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Durham County Council

Data available

North East

344

appeals registered, 2024 (official DfE figure)

445

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.

Structured outcome breakdown

Structured breakdown — 2024/25 academic year (completed appeals only)

real, from FOI response

84.3%

12.8%

Resolved before hearing — 263 (84.3%) Contested, council lost — 40 (12.8%) Contested, council won — 9 (2.9%)

resolved_before_hearing = 240 conceded before hearing + 23 withdrawn by parents (both explicitly stated). contested_and_council_lost = 40 'SENDIST ruled against LA, INCLUDING partially upheld' -- source does not separately break out partially-upheld from fully-against, so the whole 40 is kept in the lost bucket and partially_split left null rather than guessed. contested_and_council_won = 9 'SENDIST upheld LA decision'. Total appeals for this AY not explicitly stated as a round number (percentages imply ~310-312 but this is not filled in). Excludes 342 live appeals held council-wide as of response date, not included in these figures.

Source →

Freedom of Information responses

SEND Tribunals

Awaiting classification

Requested by John Smith on 2026-02-12 · answered 2026-03-10 · covers 2024/25 (academic year), 2025/26 (academic year, to date)

Appeals Received (calendar year): 2024: 343; 2025: 447; 2026: 34* (*further appeals received after 15 Feb deadline not yet logged/allocated). Academic Year 2024/25 (completed appeals only): Appeals conceded before hearing: 240. SENDIST upheld LA decision: 9 cases = 2.9% of completed appeals, 12.5% when excluding cases conceded before hearing (a further 23 cases withdrawn by parents, not included). SENDIST ruled against LA (including partially upheld): 40 cases = 12.8% of completed appeals, 55.6% when excluding cases conceded before hearing. Academic Year 2025/26 (to date): Appeals conceded before hearing: 129. SENDIST upheld LA decision: 5 cases = 2.9% of completed appeals, 12.2% excluding conceded (a further 6 cases withdrawn by parents, not included). SENDIST ruled against LA (including partially upheld): 30 cases = 17.6% of completed appeals, 73.2% excluding conceded. Council holds 342 live appeals not included in these figures. 'Number of hearings attended' and 'average cost per appeal' were refused under s12 FOIA (824 appeals would need individual assessment, estimated 400+ hours).

Caveat: Data covers completed appeals only; excludes 342 live/ongoing appeals. Cases withdrawn by parents are excluded from the upheld/against percentages (noted separately). Data gathered from Liquid Logic (Power BI dashboard) plus SENDIST information. Hearings-attended count and average cost per appeal were withheld under the s12 cost-limit exemption.

LBC REQUEST - FOI SEND provision

Partially successful

Requested by Fraser Knight on 2024-11-01 · answered 2024-12-23 · covers 2019-01-01 to 2024-10-01 (aggregate)

Q3: '831 Send Appeals were received by the Council between 1/01/19 to 1/10/24. Out of those 50 where found in favour of the council.' Also High Needs Block Spend by financial year: 2019/20 £61.103m; 2020/21 £63.41m; 2021/22 £70.499m; 2022/23 £80.199m; 2023/24 £91.877m.

Caveat: Legal team cost breakdown for SEND appeals not held in the format requested (would require manual review of 48 staff members' casework, refused under s12).