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Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council
Data availableYorkshire and the Humber
98
appeals registered, 2024 (official DfE figure)
103
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.
- Rotherham SEND Information Advice and Support Service — 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 · 01709 823 627.
- 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 — 2023
real, from FOI response
Resolved before hearing — 0 (0%)
Contested, council lost — 1 (50%)
Contested, council won — 0 (0%)
Partially split — 1 (50%)
Council states 'all tribunals were concluded by consent/conceded/withdrawn' apart from: 1 appeal partially upheld (partially_split), 1 appeal allowed/against the council (contested_and_council_lost), and 1 decision still awaited at time of response -- implying most of the 52 appeals resolved without a contested ruling, but no exact resolved_before_hearing count is given so it is left null rather than computed as 52 minus the named exceptions. No appeal explicitly reported as dismissed/won by the council for 2023.
Freedom of Information responses
Successful
Response ref FOI-780-24/25, issued 25/11/24. 'Between 1st January 2019 and 1st October 2024 how many SEND appeals were received by the council? 231' broken down by year: 2019: 11, 2020: 25, 2021: 39, 2022: 31, 2023: 52, 2024: 73. On outcomes ('of these appeal cases decided by tribunal, how many were in favour of the council?'): 'Information prior to 2023 is not held.' 2023: 'All tribunals were concluded by consent/conceded/withdrawn. One appeal was partially upheld. One appeal was allowed. We are currently waiting on one decision that has recently been heard at hearing.' 2024: 'All tribunals have been concluded by consent/conceded/withdrawn. Two appeals have been allowed. One appeal was in favour of the council. Please note: we currently have 41 live tribunals which we are working on/waiting to be finalised, 4 of which will be going to hearings in December.' Legal team costs for SEND appeal cases: 2019/20: £23,227; 2020/21: £23,263; 2021/22: £23,076; 2022/23: £37,677; 2023/24: £36,250.
Caveat: Outcome/decided-in-favour data is only held from 2023 onward ('information prior to 2023 is not held') even though the appeals-received count goes back to 2019. The 2023 and 2024 outcome narratives are qualitative/count-based rather than a simple totals table, and both years explicitly flag unresolved/live cases still pending at the time of response (including 41 live tribunals as of the response date), so these are not final counts for those years.