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Kent County Council
Data availableSouth East
1559
appeals registered, 2024 (official DfE figure)
1756
appeals registered, 2025 (official DfE figure)
Data available. At least one Freedom of Information response gives real, extractable figures on tribunal appeals or outcomes for this council.
Thinking about appealing, or partway through it? These are free, independent sources of advice — not run by this site, and not run by any council.
- Information, Advice, and Support Kent (IASK) — this council's own free SEND information, advice and support service. Every council is legally required to fund one, at arm's length from itself · 03000 41 3000.
- IPSEA — Free, independent legal advice on SEN law — including EHC plans and tribunal appeals.
- SOS!SEN — Free helpline and 1:1 advice specifically on preparing a SEND tribunal appeal.
- Coram Children's Legal Centre — Free education law advice line, including SEN appeals and EHC plan reviews.
- GOV.UK: appeal an EHC plan decision — The official government guide to the appeals process itself — who can appeal, mediation, costs.
Structured outcome breakdown
Structured breakdown — since 01/01/2019 (cumulative to response date, 26 Nov 2024)
real, from FOI response
Resolved before hearing — 1922 (77.2%)
Contested, council lost — 437 (17.6%)
Contested, council won — 76 (3.1%)
Partially split — 54 (2.2%)
Single cumulative total since 01/01/2019, not broken down by year, across 14 outcome codes summing exactly to the council's own stated Grand Total of 3861 (verified: 76+54+437+1078+5+1353+158+500+102+23+28+33+7+7=3861). Mapping to this schema: contested_and_council_won = 'AD - Appeal Dismissed' (76). contested_and_council_lost = 'AU - Appeal Allowed' (437). partially_split = 'AP - Appeal partially dismissed' (54). resolved_before_hearing = 'LC - LA conceded appeal' (1078) + 'PWL - appeal withdrawn LA favour' (158) + 'PWP - appeal withdrawn parent favour' (500) + 'PWW - appeal withdrawn LA original decision stands' (102) + 'SML - negotiated via Order or at hearing LA' (23) + 'SMLP - Order or at hearing partially LA/parent' (28) + 'SMP - negotiated via Order or at hearing parent' (33) = 1922 (all withdrawal/negotiated-settlement types, none reflecting a contested tribunal ruling on the merits). NOT mapped to any bucket (1372 total, excluded): 'OLA - Tribunal Moved to Other LA' (5, case transferred, not a real outcome here), 'Ongoing' (1353, unresolved), 'SOL - Parent Struck out by the Tribunal' (7) and 'SOP - LA struck out by the Tribunal' (7) (procedural strike-outs -- ambiguous whether these count as a ruling or not, left out rather than guessed). This mapping is a judgment-based reconstruction of Kent's own 14-category scheme, not the council's own categorisation -- Kent's own framing warns 'Potential outcomes of Tribunal cannot be easily classified as in favour of one particular party.' KCC does not separately record legal costs for tribunals vs other legal cases.
Freedom of Information responses
Awaiting classification
Response dated 26 November 2024, ref 52801862. Council's own framing: 'Potential outcomes of Tribunal cannot be easily classified as in favour of one particular party; therefore, I have provided the full list of outcomes for all appeals lodged within the time period specified' (since 01/01/2019). Full outcome table (Appeal Outcome / Number of Appeals Lodged since 01/01/2019): AD - Appeal Dismissed: 76. AP - Appeal partially dismissed: 54. AU - Appeal Allowed: 437. LC - LA conceded appeal: 1078. OLA - Tribunal Moved to Other LA: 5. Ongoing: 1353. PWL - appeal withdrawn LA favour: 158. PWP - appeal withdrawn parent favour: 500. PWW - appeal withdrawn LA original decision stands: 102. SML - negotiated via Order or at hearing LA: 23. SMLP - Order or at hearing partially LA/parent: 28. SMP - negotiated via Order or at hearing parent: 33. SOL - Parent Struck out by the Tribunal: 7. SOP - LA struck out by the Tribunal: 7. Grand Total: 3861 (components verified to sum exactly to 3861). On legal costs specifically: 'KCC does not separately record the costs of legal cases vs tribunals, therefore we are unable to answer this question.'
Caveat: Figures are a single cumulative total since 01/01/2019 up to the response date (~November 2024), not broken out year-by-year. 1353 of the 3861 (over a third) are still 'Ongoing', so outcome totals should be read against that large pending caseload rather than as fully resolved. No separate legal-cost figures for tribunal work specifically are available.