Rulebook · Way to challenge

School admission appeal to an independent appeal panel

For a child without an EHC plan, a refused school place can be appealed to an independent appeal panel. The school's admission authority arranges the panel: the council or the school, depending on the type of school. A claim that the refusal was disability discrimination is made to the same panel, not to the SEND Tribunal.

Who can use it: The parent of the child. For a sixth-form place, the young person can appeal as well as the parent. Time limit: The refusal letter gives the deadline to appeal. The School Admission Appeals Code says the deadline must allow at least 20 school days from the date the family was told the application was unsuccessful. Admission authorities of maintained schools and appeal panels have a legal duty to follow the Code (School Standards and Framework Act 1998, s 84). Academies must follow the Code under their funding agreements. An appeal sent after the deadline must still be heard, on the timetable the admission authority publishes.

Alongside other ways

It is separate from the EHC process, so a request for an EHC needs assessment can be made at the same time. Complaints about how a panel was run go to the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman for maintained schools, and to the Secretary of State for Education for academies.

Cost

There is no fee to appeal.

What it can do

• The panel can decide that the child is to be admitted. That decision binds the admission authority.
• A disability discrimination claim about the refusal is decided by the panel, with the powers it has in an admission appeal.

What it cannot do

• It does not deal with EHC plans: for a child with a plan, the school is named in section I, and appeals about it go to the SEND Tribunal.
• It does not decide whether the child needs an EHC plan. Asking the council for an EHC needs assessment is a separate route.

Type of rule

Law (Act or Regulations)This is the law, set by an Act of Parliament or by Regulations.

Rule id

route.admission_appeal

Rules version

england-2026.10

Law as at

30 September 2026

Sources

• School Standards and Framework Act 1998, s 94Law (Act or Regulations)
• School Admission Appeals Code 2022, introduction, para 5Official guidance
• School Standards and Framework Act 1998, s 94(2B)Law (Act or Regulations)
• School Standards and Framework Act 1998, s 84Law (Act or Regulations), to verifyStill to confirm against the text of s 84, not yet read: which subsection (believed to be s 84(3)) places the duty to act in accordance with the relevant provisions of the School Admission Appeals Code on the admission authorities of maintained schools, governing bodies, councils and admission appeal panels. The Code says it was issued under s 84 and that these bodies have that statutory duty (introduction, paras 1 and 4).
• School Admission Appeals Code 2022, introduction, para 4Official guidance
• School Admission Appeals Code 2022, para 1.1Official guidance
• School Admission Appeals Code 2022, para 2.5Official guidance
• School Admission Appeals Code 2022, para 2.1(a)Official guidance
• School Admission Appeals Code 2022, para 2.4Official guidance
• School Admission Appeals Code 2022, para 2.6Official guidance
• School Standards and Framework Act 1998, s 94(6)Law (Act or Regulations)
• School Admission Appeals Code 2022, para 2.25Official guidance
• School Admission Appeals Code 2022, para 3.20Official guidance
• School Admission Appeals Code 2022, para 5.4Official guidance
• School Admission Appeals Code 2022, Appendix 2, para 1Official guidance
• Equality Act 2010, Sch 17 para 13Law (Act or Regulations)

Related

• Disability discrimination claim against a school

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