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Nottinghamshire County Council
Data availableEast Midlands
184
appeals registered, 2024 (official DfE figure)
197
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.
- Ask Us Nottinghamshire — 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 · 0800 121 7772.
- 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.
Estimated outcome breakdown
Estimated, not reported
Resolved before hearing — 143 (72.6%)
Contested, council lost — 36 (18.3%)
Contested, council won — 10 (5.1%)
Partially split — 8 (4.1%)
This council's own answer doesn't give a usable outcome breakdown. This estimate applies the pooled England-wide outcome rate (no regional sample was large enough to trust on its own) to this council's own real, officially-published appeal volume for 2025 (197 appeals) — see how estimates work.
By decision type
By decision type — 2023 (Sept22-Aug23)
| Category (council's own wording) | Appeals | Overturned |
|---|---|---|
| Outcomes of challenges to refusal-to-assess decisions | 21 | 21 |
By decision type — 2024 (Sept23-Aug24)
| Category (council's own wording) | Appeals | Overturned |
|---|---|---|
| Outcomes of challenges to refusal-to-assess decisions | 7 | 7 |
By decision type — 2025 (Sept24-Aug25)
| Category (council's own wording) | Appeals | Overturned |
|---|---|---|
| Outcomes of challenges to refusal-to-assess decisions | 25 | 25 |
Freedom of Information responses
Partially successful
'We only have records of this data from 2022 onwards: SEND appeals received - 2022: 1; 2023: 4; 2024: 3. Of these appeal cases decided by tribunal, how many were in favour of the council? - 2022: 1; 2023: 4; 2024: 3.' Also gave SEND provision spend by financial year (2019/20 £70,018,000 through 2023/24 £113,681,000) and legal-team spend for SEND appeals by financial year (2019/20 £8,999 through 2023/24 £12,261.67).
Caveat: The 'appeals received' and 'in favour of council' figures are identical for every year (1/1, 4/4, 3/3), which is unusual and may indicate the council's answer conflated the two questions rather than genuinely reporting that every decided appeal favoured the council -- treat with caution and verify against source. Council states records are only held from 2022 onwards despite the request covering back to 2019.
Awaiting classification
Q2 Outcomes of challenges to refusal-to-assess decisions: 'Sept 22-Aug 23 - 2023: Total 21 - 18 overturned prior to Tribunal - Lost 3 as court ordered to assess. Sept 23-Aug 24 - 2024: Total 7 - All overturned prior to Tribunal. Sept 24-Aug 25 - 2025: Total 25 - All overturned prior to Tribunal.' Q8 SEND Tribunal appeals and concessions: 'Sept 22-Aug 23 - 2023: Total - 47 - 32 overturned at mediation - 15 withdrawn or upheld -(3 of these went to tribunal). Sept 23-Aug 24 - 2024: Total - 21 - 18 overturned - 3 upheld. Sept 24-Aug 25 - 2025: Total - 66 - 53 overturned - 11 upheld - 1 still live and 1 moved out of county.'
Caveat: Council reports by academic year (September-August) labelled as the corresponding calendar year, not the strict calendar-year (Jan-Dec) basis the requester defined. 'Overturned' appears to mean the LA changed its decision (i.e. conceded), and 'upheld' appears to mean the LA's original decision stood -- this is the council's own terminology and is not explicitly mapped to formal tribunal win/loss language, so interpret with care.