Advice and Guidance Education Appeals Specialists

Our Advice and Guidance Education Appeals Specialists give independent advice and support to young people and parents of deaf children on special educational needs across the UK.

Together with the Helpline and Advice and Guidance Officers, we provide specialist advice if you disagree with a decision and want to challenge it.

What we can help you with

We provide advice to parents of deaf children and young people up to the age of 18, including:

• Challenging decisions by local authorities, including refusals to complete an statutory assessment of Special Educational Needs
• Appealing against the decision not to issue an Education, Health and Care Plan in England or a Statement in Wales or Northern Ireland
• Appealing against parts of the Education Health and Care Plan in England and Statements in Wales and Northern Ireland
• Appealing against the school named in an Education Health Care Plan in England or a Statement in Wales and Northern Ireland
• Complaints about the health or social care provision provided by a local authority
• Disability discrimination issues in education

How we’ll help you

We can help you by giving you advice and identifying what your rights are, so that you can make informed choices and feel more confident about your case.

We will help you to:

• understand what the rules are and options are, how to achieve the outcome you want and chances of success
• know what will aid your case and help you to develop the right arguments
• prepare appeal paperwork and support you in getting the right evidence and information

We aim for your case to be resolved as early as possible, but sometimes it has to be heard at an independent appeal tribunal.

If this happens we will guide you through the process and, in some cases, we may be able to provide representation when it is needed.

If we take on your case, you will have a named Advice and Guidance Education Appeals Specialist. Sometimes we use pro-bono legal volunteers to help with our cases but we will continue to have responsibility for your case.

Getting the most out of an appeal

So that we can give you the best possible support, it is helpful if you can tell us about:

• Any deadlines that you have coming up
• What has happened already
• Important letters or other papers related to your case
• If anyone else is helping you

Contacting us

If you think you may need our support, contact the Advice and Guidance Helpline who will be able to give you some advice and guidance and will see if they can refer your case to us.

If we cannot take on your case, we will provide you with guidance and find other ways you can be supported.