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Swindon Borough Council
Data availableSouth West
92
appeals registered, 2024 (official DfE figure)
129
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.
- Swindon Information, Advice and Support (SIAS) 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 · 01793 466 515.
- 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 — 94 (72.3%)
Contested, council lost — 24 (18.5%)
Contested, council won — 6 (4.6%)
Partially split — 6 (4.6%)
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 (129 appeals) — see how estimates work.
Freedom of Information responses
Successful
Answered inline (no attachment): '1. Between 1st January 2019 and 1st October 2024 how much was spent by the council on SEND (special educational needs and disabilities) provision? £148,820,954.10. 2. ...how much was spent by the council on legal teams for cases dealing with SEND appeals? £316,881.24. 3. ...how many SEND appeals were received by the council? 361 (Tribunal only). 4. Of these appeal cases decided by tribunal, how many were in favour of the council? (86 ongoing tribunals 8 currently)' [verbatim as given in the response — wording is unclear/garbled].
Caveat: The answer to Q4 (tribunal outcome) is ambiguously worded in the source ('86 ongoing tribunals 8 currently') and cannot be confidently interpreted — it may mean 86 tribunals still undecided and 8 decided so far (in the council's favour, or in total), but this is genuinely unclear from the text as given. All figures cover a single ~5.75-year combined period (Jan 2019-Oct 2024) rather than being broken down by year.