What is a Request for Change?

Requests for Change are used to respond to developments in appeals to the SEND Tribunal

If you are a parent or carer currently in, or considering, an appeal to the First Tier Tribunal SEND ("the SEND Tribunal"), you are probably aware of the long wait times it can take to reach a Final Hearing Date ("FHD"). And the longer an appeal takes the more likely it is that circumstances will change during its lifetime. In order to enable parties (both parents/carers and local authorities) to respond to such changes whilst keeping the appeal on track, the SEND Tribunal has a system of case management operated through what it known as a Request for Change ("RfC"). Also called a SEND 7 Request because of the form used to submit it, an RfC is an official application made to the SEND Tribunal for a variation in procedure. There are many reasons why you might want or need to submit an RfC and some of the most common are to :

Amend the Appeal

This often happens when an appeal is lodged against the Special Educational Needs and/or Special Educational Provision (sections B and F) set out in an Education Health and Care Plan ("EHC Plan"), but the education setting stops being suitable or the child/young person moves into a Phase Transfer and the appeal needs to be amended to include a change of placement (section I). It might also be that a parent/carer was unaware when they submitted the appeal that they could appeal the health and/or social care aspects of the EHC Plan (sections C and G and F and H respectively) but now wish to.

Extend a Deadline

The Final Evidence Deadline is deliberately set towards the start of the appeal process and often many months before the FHD. This is both to enable the SEND Tribunal to bring forward FHDs if additional capacity to hear them arises (e.g. appeals settle or more Judges become available) and to encourage parties to work constructively towards settlement where possible. Often, however, evidence only becomes available after the deadline because of the delays in obtaining professional expert assessments or because it isn't clear which school the parents/carers are asking for until consultations have been returned. You can therefore ask the SEND Tribunal to extend the deadline for submitting evidence to allow that evidence to be considered at the FHD.

Request a Change to the Final Hearing Date

The SEND Tribunal is fully aware that the delay in FHDs is particularly problematic for children/young people in a Phase Transfer year (principally Y6 to Y7 and Y11 to Y12) and as such is prioritising appeals for those children/young people, as well as for children/young people who are not in school/wihout a school place (sometimes the same children/young people). Whilst they make every effort to identify such cases when an appeal is submitted, this doesn't always happen, and in that situation you can use an RfC to request an expedited FHD.

When making a Request for Change, the key things to remember are to:

Provide a detailed explanation of why you are requesting the change, along with supporting evidence if applicable. The clearer you can be on why the change is needed and also why it wasn't possible to anticipate this need earlier and so include it in the original appeal, the more likely it is that the local authority and/or the SEND Tribunal will allow it.

Include the views of the local authority. This means you need to let the local authority know that you will be making an application for an RfC before you submit it to the SEND Tribunal, and save in exceptional circumstances you are expected to provide 5 working days for them to respond. There is a box on the RfC form where you can explain when you contacted them, and how they responded. If they didn't respond you can say that too. It is a good idea to attach copies of your email to them (and theirs if they reply).

In the past the SEND Tribunal would consider each RfC individually as it was received, but the new practice is understood to be to allow all uncontested applications (i.e. ones where there is no objection from the party not making the application) and to leave any contested applications to be determined at the same time by the panel at the Final Hearing.

SEND Advocacy can help you to ensure that your child or young person with SEND receives the appropriate support that will enable them to thrive. If you need someone in your corner to help you secure the education your child deserves, contact SEND Advocacy today.