Rulebook · Way to challenge
Talk to the council: a meeting, or asking for reasons in writing
Contacting the council's SEN team directly. You can ask what has been decided and why, or share information it may not have had. You can also ask it to look again, or say when it will act. You can ask for a meeting, or for its reasons in writing. With a draft plan, the law lets you ask for a meeting with a council officer.
Who can use it: Anyone involved: parents, young people, schools and colleges, and professionals. Time limit: No time limit, but the time limit for any appeal keeps running.
- Alongside other ways
- Yes, alongside any other route.
- Cost
- Free.
What it can do
- The council can explain its decision, correct mistakes, or make a new decision if it agrees to.
- For a delay, it can give a date for the decision.
- Written reasons make it easier to compare a decision with the law.
What it cannot do
- The council does not have to change its decision.
- It does not stop or extend the time limit for an appeal.
- Type of rule
- Law (Act or Regulations)This is the law, set by an Act of Parliament or by Regulations.
- Rule id
route.talk_to_council- Rules version
- england-2026.10
- Law as at
- 30 September 2026
Sources
- Children and Families Act 2014, s 19Law (Act or Regulations)
- Children and Families Act 2014, s 36(5)Law (Act or Regulations)
- Children and Families Act 2014, s 36(9)Law (Act or Regulations)
- SEND Regulations 2014, reg 13(1)Law (Act or Regulations)
Related
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