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Bristol City Council
Data availableSouth West
106
appeals registered, 2024 (official DfE figure)
133
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.
Estimated outcome breakdown
Estimated, not reported
Resolved before hearing — 96 (72.2%)
Contested, council lost — 24 (18%)
Contested, council won — 7 (5.3%)
Partially split — 6 (4.5%)
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 (133 appeals) — see how estimates work.
Freedom of Information responses
Awaiting classification
Response dated 17 April 2026 (ref 69057134). Table 2(a) 'Appeal to the First-tier Tribunal (SEND), including cases conceded by the local authority prior to a full hearing': 2021: 1; 2022: 33; 2023: 37; 2024: 26; 2025: 28. Section 4(c) 'Time between refusal decision and tribunal outcome (or concession)': 2021: 48 days; 2022: 42 days; 2023: 42 days; 2024: 55 days; 2025: 50 days. Section 5(b)/(c) costs: 'SEND tribunal appeals (including external legal representation where applicable) — External representation cost: 52,554.80 GBP – This is the amount from 1/4/2025. Prior to this, legal costs were not recorded in such a way that could provide separation from other legal costs. Tribunal Manager salaries are not relevant as they are not legally trained.' The council also states it holds no discrete breakdown of tribunal costs by appeal type: 'The Local Authority does not hold recorded information that provides a discrete breakdown of costs relating specifically to SEND Tribunal appeals arising from refusals to carry out EHC needs assessments. Recorded information relating to SEND Tribunal activity is not held in a way that enables costs to be disaggregated by appeal type (for example, refusals to assess, refusals to issue an EHC plan, or placement disputes). Costs... are not recorded at an individual appeal or appeal category level.'
Caveat: Important: the requester's original question body literally asks about 'requests for Education, Health and Care (EHC) needs assessments made to North Somerset Council' — not Bristol — apparently a copy-paste template error by the requester, even though the request was sent to and answered by Bristol City Council (letterhead, signature, and 'Our ref' are all Bristol's). The figures above are presented by Bristol as its own data; there is no indication Bristol answered on North Somerset's behalf instead. Separately, the response's own section numbering jumps from '2' directly to '4' (Timeframes) with no visible section '3' (which in the original request was 'Breakdown by type of need' — physical disability / neuromuscular conditions) — this appears to have been folded into the Section 2 mediation table (which does carry 'Physical Disability' and 'Neuromuscular conditions' columns) rather than answered as a distinct section, and no equivalent breakdown was given for the tribunal figures specifically. Also: this council's OTHER FOI response in this same batch (lbc_request_foi_send_provision_32 — see separate entry) gives materially different tribunal appeal volumes for overlapping years (e.g. 2022: 118 'appeals lodged' vs 33 here for 'appeal to tribunal including conceded'; 2023: 103 vs 37) — the two Bristol responses are not mutually consistent, likely reflecting different counting methodologies/data sources within the council. Mediation-only figures and 'plans issued following mediation' figures elsewhere in the same letter were excluded here as out of scope (no tribunal component).
Successful
Response dated 1 April 2025 (ref 52936791) to Fraser Knight's batch 'LBC REQUEST - FOI SEND provision' request. 'Appeals lodged' by calendar year: 2019: 41; 2020: 44; 2021: 37; 2022: 118; 2023: 103. Answer to 'Of these appeal cases decided by tribunal, how many were in favour of the council?' — table headed 'Upheld/partially upheld in favour of LA': 2019: 5; 2020: 5; 2021: 5; 2022: 4; 2023: 0. Legal team costs for SEND appeal cases, by year: 2021: 6,420 GBP; 2022: 60,325.00 GBP; 2023: 77,961.00 GBP; 2024: 51,167.60 GBP. Council notes: 'Prior to 2021 Bristol City Council did not use legal counsel in First Tier Tribunal appeals. Appeals were held and represented by a Local Authority Officer' — i.e. no comparable legal-cost figure exists for 2019-2020.
Caveat: Council's own footnote: 'Please note figures are given in calendar year. Data sets prior to 2021 have been manually extracted and is subject to human error and interpretation and therefore may not reflect data sets previously requested.' No appeals-lodged/tribunal-outcome figures given for 2024 (those two tables stop at 2023, though legal costs extend to 2024). See the other Bristol entry (freedom_of_information_request_e_1434) for a materially different set of tribunal appeal volumes covering overlapping years from a separate Bristol FOI response — the two are inconsistent with each other and should not both be treated as authoritative without reconciliation.