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Walsall Metropolitan Borough Council
Data availableWest Midlands
166
appeals registered, 2024 (official DfE figure)
204
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 — 2004
real, from FOI response
Resolved before hearing — 10 (31.3%)
Contested, council lost — 20 (62.5%)
Contested, council won — 2 (6.3%)
resolved_before_hearing = conceded (1) + withdrawn (9). Won/lost taken directly from council's own 'won/lost by Walsall MBC' table (2/20); internally consistent with hearing count (2+20=22) and appeals total (22 hearing + 10 resolved = 32).
By decision type
By decision type — 2004-2013
| Category (council's own wording) | Appeals | Overturned |
|---|---|---|
| refuse to assess | 77 | — |
| part 4 (placement/named-school appeals) | 18 | — |
By decision type — 2022
| Category (council's own wording) | Appeals | Overturned |
|---|---|---|
| refusal to assess mediations | 8 | 3 |
| refusal to issue mediations | 3 | 0 |
| contents and placement appeals | 5 | — |
Freedom of Information responses
Long overdue (WhatDoTheyKnow site tag; substantive replies were in fact given in March 2013 — see raw_extract)
Final corrected table ('SEN Tribunal cases Revised 25th March, Walsall MBC 2003-2013'; 2003 data 'no longer held by the Council' throughout). Number of appeals to SEND Tribunal by year: 2004: 32, 2005: 20, 2006: 12, 2007: 15, 2008: 6, 2009: 6, 2010: 8, 2011: 10, 2012: 6, 2013: 1. Of which 'refuse to assess': 2004: 27, 2005: 12, 2006: 7, 2007: 7, 2008: 1, 2009: 2, 2010: 7, 2011: 7, 2012: 6, 2013: 1. Of which 'part 4' (placement/named-school appeals): 2004: 3, 2005: 3, 2006: 1, 2007: 6, 2008: 0, 2009: 3, 2010: 1, 2011: 1, 2012: 0, 2013: 0. 'Of which how many were opposed' - council states simply 'All were opposed' (not broken out by year). Of which went to hearing: 2004: 22, 2005: 13, 2006: 4, 2007: 6, 2008: 2, 2009: 2, 2010: 0, 2011: 1, 2012: 0, 2013: '2 pending*' (footnote: 'two pending cases as one appeal was registered late in 2012 but has not yet been heard'). Won/lost by Walsall MBC (won/lost format): 2004: 2/20, 2005: 1/12, 2006: 0/4, 2007: 1/5, 2008: 0/2, 2009: 0/2, 2010: '-', 2011: 0/1, 2012: '-', 2013: '-'. Conceded before hearing: 2004: 1, 2005: 2, 2006: 2, 2007: 0, 2008: 1, 2009: 0, 2010: 2, 2011: 6, 2012: 1, 2013: (blank). Withdrawn before hearing: 2004: 9, 2005: 5, 2006: 6, 2007: 8, 2008: 3, 2009: 4, 2010: 6, 2011: 3, 2012: 5, 2013: (blank). Type-of-need breakdown given only for a limited number of statemented cases from 2007 onward (council: 'We didn't start to record this information until 2007 and thereafter it is only recorded where an assessment is carried out'), e.g. 2007: '3 C&L, 1 AS'; 2008: '2 C&L'; 2009: '1 C&L/C&I, 1 C&L'; 2010: '2 C&L'; 2011: '2 C&L, 4 C&I, 1 PD'; 2012: '1 C&I, 1 BESD, 2 AS'; 2013: 'Not yet established'. Cost note: 'Since 2007 the Authority has, in all but one case, been represented by a member of the SEN Assessment Service. Therefore there is no cost to the Authority. In the one case where someone else represented the authority there was a charge of £750.' A follow-up question about total staff-time cost of defending appeals was refused as information not held (Council outsources educational provision to a private contractor for a fixed annual fee not broken down by service).
Caveat: 2003 data confirmed as no longer held for every metric. A row for 'Appeals dismissed by Tribunal prior to hearing' (value '1') and the 'opposed' row could not be reliably mapped to a specific year from the extracted table structure (likely a merged/spanning cell in the source docx) - transcribed as a general note rather than assigned to a year. This is an older (2013) response so does not reflect the currently-published years-covered elsewhere on the site.
Re-use terms stated by the council: "Most of the information that we provide in response to Freedom of Information Act 2000 and Environmental Information Regulations 2004 requests will be subject to copyright protection. In most cases the copyright will be owned by Walsall Council. The copyright in respect of other information may be owned by another person or organisation, as indicated. You are free to use any information supplied to you in response to this request for your own non-commercial research or private study purposes. The information may also be used for any other purpose allowed by a limitation or exception in copyright law, such as news reporting. However, any other type of re-use, for example by publishing the information in analogue or digital form, including on the internet, will require the permission of the copyright owner."
Successful
Response dated 16 Jan 2023 to 'Send Stats' request (figures 'as at the date of your request', i.e. 12 Dec 2022, unless stated): 'How many refusal to assess appeals have been registered this year? 8 refusals to assess mediations registered this year.' 'How many of these were upheld? 3 were upheld.' 'How many refusal to issue have been registered this year? 3 refusals to issue mediations registered this year.' 'How many of these were upheld? 0 were upheld.' 'How many contents and placement appeals have been registered this year? 5.' 'How many of the parental preference for placement were named? The Council does not hold this information. It is therefore exempt from disclosure under FOI Act s1, information not held'. EHCP context figures also given: 3,343 children/young people had an EHCP maintained by Walsall (data taken 19 Dec 2022), of which 1,204 in mainstream settings, 1,153 in specialist settings, 617 with EOTAS, and 34 children with an EHCP or SEN Support 'missing education'.
Caveat: The council's own answer text labels the refusal-to-assess and refusal-to-issue figures as 'mediations' even though the request explicitly asked about 'appeals' using the standard SENDIST appeal-type taxonomy (refusal to assess / refusal to issue / contents and placement). It is ambiguous from the letter's wording alone whether these 8 and 3 figures are genuinely Tribunal appeals (as asked) or mediation cases (which would be out of scope for tribunal figures) - transcribed verbatim as worded by the council rather than resolved either way.
Re-use terms stated by the council: "Most of the information that we provide in response to Freedom of Information Act 2000 requests will be subject to copyright protection. In most cases the copyright will be owned by Walsall Council. The copyright in respect of other information may be owned by another person or organisation, as indicated. You are free to use any information supplied to you in response to this request for your own non-commercial research or private study purposes. The information may also be used for any other purpose allowed by a limitation or exception in copyright law, such as news reporting. However, any other type of re-use, for example by publishing the information in analogue or digital form, including on the internet, will require the permission of the copyright owner."