Can I Appeal a Co-ordinated Support Plan Decision in Scotland?

Who this guide is for

Parents and carers in Scotland, young people aged 16 or over who are still at school, and some children aged 12 to 15, who disagree with a council decision about additional support for learning, especially a co-ordinated support plan (CSP). It explains CSP time limits and references (appeals) to the Health and Education Chamber of the First-tier Tribunal for Scotland.

What this guide does not cover

• England, Wales or Northern Ireland: see the England guide, the Wales guide or the Northern Ireland guide.
• School exclusions: see our school exclusions guide.
• Refused placing requests the tribunal cannot hear: ask your council about its appeal committee. The tribunal can hear a refused placing request for a special school. It can also hear one for any other school if the child has a CSP, the council has decided one is needed or has started to decide whether one is needed, or the council has decided none is needed and you have referred that decision to the tribunal.
• Complaints about a teacher or a school: ask the school, then the council.

What the rules depend on

1. Is the school or council in Scotland? Yes: this guide. England, Wales and Northern Ireland have different systems and their own guides.
2. Is the disagreement about a CSP, a placing request for a special school (or another school where there is a CSP question), or planning for leaving school? Yes: the tribunal may be able to hear it. Other additional support disagreements: use the council's mediation or dispute resolution (see below).
3. When did the council decide, or the problem arise? The 2 months counts from then.
4. Who is making the reference? A parent; a young person aged 16 or over who is still at school; or, for some references, a child aged 12 to 15.

Co-ordinated support plans and time limits

• If you ask the council to decide whether your child needs a CSP, it must reply within 8 weeks of receiving your request, either with its proposal to decide or with a decision not to comply (at most 16 weeks where it cannot).
• The council then has 16 weeks, starting from the date it tells you it proposes to decide, to prepare a CSP or tell you one is not needed. If it does neither in time, this is treated as a decision that a co-ordinated support plan is not needed, and you can refer that to the tribunal.
• A CSP must be reviewed when 12 months have passed since it was prepared. You can refer it to the tribunal if the review has not started, or if a review takes more than 12 weeks.
• You can also refer it if the council refuses your request for an early review.
• The council must answer a request for an early review within 4 weeks (never more than 12 weeks where it cannot). No answer in time counts as a refusal you can refer.

What the tribunal can hear

The Additional Support Needs part of the Health and Education Chamber (often called the ASN tribunal) deals with disputes about:

• the opening, closure, review, timescales or content of a CSP;
• the council not providing the support set out in a CSP;
• planning for a young person's move on from school;
• some refusals of placing requests, including a request for a special school.

A young person aged 16 or over who is still at school can make their own reference. A child aged 12 to 15 who has capacity, and whose wellbeing will not be harmed, can make a reference about a CSP or about the council's assessment of their capacity or wellbeing.

The time limit for a reference

The tribunal says a reference should be received within 2 months of the council's decision or of the issue arising. For placing requests, the 2 months counts from when the council told you of your right to make a reference. The tribunal can accept a late reference, but it does not have to: explain the reason for the delay in full.

Other disagreements

For disagreements the tribunal cannot hear, councils offer mediation and independent adjudication (dispute resolution). Ask your council or Enquire how to use them.

"I think the school is discriminating because of my child's disability"

You can make a disability discrimination claim about a pupil in school education to the same tribunal (Health and Education Chamber). The tribunal says the claim should be received within 6 months of the alleged discrimination. A child aged 12 to 15 can make their own claim.

Deadlines

• Council prepares a CSP or decides one is not needed: within 16 weeks.
• CSP review: when 12 months have passed, finished within 12 weeks of that date. For an early review, the 12 weeks run from the date the council sends notice of the review.
• Reference to the tribunal: within 2 months of the decision or the issue arising.
• Disability discrimination claim: within 6 months.

Traps

• EHC plans are an England system. In Scotland the legal plan is a co-ordinated support plan, and not every child with additional support needs gets one.
• If the council misses the 16 weeks, that counts as a refusal you can challenge.
• The time limit is 2 months, not a number of school days.
• Not every disagreement goes to the tribunal: many go to mediation or independent adjudication.