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Central Bedfordshire Council
Data availableEast of England
140
appeals registered, 2024 (official DfE figure)
150
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 — 109 (73.2%)
Contested, council lost — 27 (18.1%)
Contested, council won — 7 (4.7%)
Partially split — 6 (4%)
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 (150 appeals) — see how estimates work.
Freedom of Information responses
Awaiting classification
Response (ref 10661889) to a detailed request for annual tribunal appeal-type breakdowns, mediation/concession/withdrawal/hearing outcome counts, and legal representation data for FY2022/23-2025/26. Nearly every substantive question was refused: Q1a (refusal to assess/issue appeal counts) answered only by pointing to the DfE's national Explore Education Statistics dataset. Q1b/Q1c (Section B&F / Section I / B,F&I appeal counts split by newly-issued-EHCP vs Annual-Review origin) refused under s12 -- Council states this would require manual review of approximately 400 individual case records at an estimated 10 minutes each (~66.6 hours), exceeding the cost limit. Q1d refused as it depends on Q1c. Q2 (appeals lodged, mediation, concessions within 30 days/via Consent Order, withdrawals, hearings, Upheld/Partially-Upheld/Dismissed counts, expenditure breakdown) answered only by reference to the same DfE national dataset -- 'The Local Authority does not hold all of the requested information in a reportable format at local level.' Q3 (legal representation defended/upheld counts) mostly not held, EXCEPT one concrete figure: 'Payments to Pathfinder Legal Services Ltd (SEND-related): FY 2022-2023: £22,206; FY 2023-2024: £53,091; FY 2024-2025: £52,849; FY 2025-2026: £65,533.'
Caveat: The Council explicitly states the Pathfinder Legal Services figures 'represent total SEND-related payments and are not broken down specifically by tribunal activity' and that 'the Council does not hold a detailed breakdown of legal costs specifically attributable to tribunal cases.' No appeal counts, mediation counts, concession counts, withdrawal counts, hearing counts, or outcome/decision-type breakdowns were actually provided anywhere in this document -- every one of those questions was refused under s12 or redirected to the national DfE dataset (which is not local-authority-specific in the way this project needs). Only the aggregate SEND legal-services spend figure above is genuine local data from this document.