Council spends £1m fighting SEND tribunals

A local authority has spent more than £1m fighting legal cases against the parents of children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) in the last four years, despite losing the majority of tribunals.

A Freedom of Information (FOI) request found that 277 SEND tribunals had been lodged against West Northamptonshire Council between April 2022 and the end of January 2026.

The Reform-controlled council said that costs were "unavoidable under the current national system", but that it had been working hard with parents and partners to try to improve outcomes.

The West Northants SEND Action Group claimed the data counteracted the council's claims of progress and improvement.

According to the FOI, sourced by the Local Democracy Reporting Service, the number of appeals has risen year-on-year, from 158 cases in 2023-24 to 191 in 2024-25.

Parents can go to a tribunal over Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCP), which set out what support a pupil needs.

They can appeal against the refusal to issue an EHCP, what it contains, or the named school in the plan.

In total, since 2022-23, the council has spent £1,083,312 on legal costs for defending SEND tribunal cases.

The FOI showed only 3% of cases had been dismissed in the council's favour so far in 2025-26.

It chose not to fight appeals in about a third of cases, while appeals it did contest were upheld in favour of parents in 65% of cases.

The council has reported only having 14 cases dismissed at tribunal over the last three years.

Lauren Bunting, co-founder of the West Northants SEND Action Group, said: "[The appeals process] is incredibly stressful and for people who have their own learning difficulties or mental health challenges, it can be near enough impossible.

"Why are they fighting when they surely know that they're wrong in most of those cases?

"It often feels like 'let's make the wrong decision and see if they bother to appeal or not'."

Michael Stratton, a Reform councillor with a responsibility for children, families and education, said: "No-one wants to see taxpayers' money spent on appeals and tribunals but sadly these costs are unavoidable under the current national system.

"We have a legal duty to properly assess evidence and ensure decisions are lawful, sustainable and balanced with a duty to spend public funds responsibly."

It comes as the authority has invited views to shape its future SEND strategy.

Do you have a story suggestion for Northamptonshire? Contact us below.

Follow Northamptonshire news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.