SEND35 and SEND35A Forms: Which One and How to Fill It In

Updated 4 July 2026 · Legal citations verified against legislation.gov.uk

Every SEND appeal starts with one of two forms, and mixing them up is the most avoidable way to lose time at the exact moment the deadline clock is running. The forms themselves are not difficult; they are long, and they reward preparation. This guide separates SEND35A from SEND35, walks through what each part of the form is really asking for, lists the enclosures the tribunal expects and covers the mistakes that most often send an appeal back to the start of the queue.

Two forms, one clean split

The split follows the appeal rights in section 51(2) of the Children and Families Act 2014:

• SEND35A covers section 51(2)(a): the council refused to carry out an EHC needs assessment. These appeals are normally decided on the papers, without a hearing, which makes the written form and grounds the whole case.
• SEND35 covers decisions about a plan: a refusal to issue one after an assessment (section 51(2)(b)) and appeals about the contents of a maintained plan, meaning the needs in section B, the provision in section F and the school in section I or the absence of one (section 51(2)(c)).

A simple test: if no assessment has happened because the council said no, you are on SEND35A. If an assessment has happened and the argument is now about whether a plan exists or what it says, you are on SEND35.

Before you touch the form

Two things need to exist before the form can succeed.

The decision letter. Your appeal is against a specific decision, so the council's letter is the anchor document. Under regulation 5(3) of the SEND Regulations 2014 a refusal to assess must arrive with your appeal rights, time limits and mediation information. Keep the envelope date if it differs wildly from the letter date.

The mediation certificate, where required. Under section 55 you need a certificate before most appeals. You get it by contacting a mediation adviser and considering mediation; attending is optional and free. The single exception is an appeal solely about section I, the named school, its type or the fact none is named, which needs no certificate. Our mediation guide covers this step in ten minutes of reading.

What each part of the form needs

Both forms follow the same broad anatomy, and each part has a job:

1. About you and your child. Names, dates of birth, contact details and who is bringing the appeal. From the end of compulsory school age the rights belong to the young person themselves, so an appeal for a 17 year old is framed accordingly.
2. The local authority and the decision. Which council, the date of the decision letter and what was decided. Copy the wording of the decision from the letter rather than paraphrasing it.
3. What you are appealing. On SEND35 this is where precision matters most: say explicitly which sections you challenge, whether that is B, F, I or a combination, or the refusal to issue. The scope you state here shapes the whole appeal, including whether the mediation certificate rule applies.
4. Your grounds of appeal. The heart of the form: why the decision is wrong. Keep the structure lawyerly even without a lawyer: state the legal test, then show with evidence why the test is met. For a refusal to assess, that is the deliberately low section 36(8) test, that your child has or may have special educational needs and a plan may be necessary. For a refusal to issue, use the assessment advice the council itself gathered under regulation 6. For contents appeals, go section by section: what B misses, why F fails the specific, detailed and quantified standard, why the section I school is wrong. If space runs out, summarise on the form and enclose a grounds document labelled with your child's name.
5. What you want. Ask plainly: order the council to carry out an assessment, to issue a plan, or to amend the named sections in the ways set out in your grounds.

The enclosure checklist

• The council's decision letter (the appeal cannot be registered without it)
• The mediation certificate, unless the appeal is section I only
• Your grounds of appeal, if they run beyond the box on the form
• The final EHC plan, for any SEND35 contents appeal
• Your evidence: school records, professional reports, the regulation 6 assessment advice where it exists and anything you supplied under regulation 7(b), including private reports

The mistakes that cost weeks

• Wrong form. A refusal to assess on SEND35, or a contents appeal on SEND35A, means correspondence, resubmission and lost days inside your deadline window.
• Missing mediation certificate. The single most common omission. The tribunal cannot register most appeals without it, so contact the mediation adviser early rather than in the final week.
• Missing the deadline. Two months from the decision or 1 month from the certificate, whichever is later. A late appeal needs written reasons and depends on the tribunal's discretion; our deadlines guide lays out every date.
• Vague grounds. "We disagree with the decision" and a description of a hard year gives the panel nothing to work with. Grounds that name the legal test and pin each point to a document are what turn sympathy into orders. In 2024/25, 99% of SEND appeals that tribunals decided went the family's way, and well-built written cases are a large part of how families use that system successfully.
• Forgetting the appeal is against the council's decision, not the school. Keep the focus on what the local authority decided and why that decision fails the statutory test.

Once the appeal is registered, what happens next depends on the type: papers-only determination for most refusal to assess cases, or a timetable towards a hearing for plan appeals, described in our guides to the SEND Tribunal and the hearing itself.

Frequently asked questions