If you are not happy about a decision that has been made concerning your child or young person and their support, you have a right to question it with the people involved. Who you speak to and involve depends on who made the decision and is providing the support.

For all services, some people have found it useful to think about what they are not happy with and write down the main points they would like to discuss and resolve. Initially it might be worth requesting a meeting with the person you have been dealing with (or their manager) to sit and talk through your concerns, or you could write to or email them, with the issues. This could lead to any problems being sorted out. 

If you’re unsure about whom you need to contact about your complaint, or what to do, the SEND Information, Advice and Support Service (SENDIASS) is available via email or phone to support children, young people and their families with a variety of questions and concerns. They are not there to handle or process complaints, but they are impartial professionals who can explain the processes involved in making a complaint to a service.

Cerebra offer a free problem-solving toolkit for people who are facing difficulties with official bodies when they are trying to access services. It identifies common issues and offers useful strategies and resources to help resolve them. You can find it on their website here: Accessing Public Services Toolkit - Cerebra.

Families with children and young people with SEND often work with a wide range of different services, which means the formal routes for challenging decisions or raising concerns are different. The pages below detail the different processes for the main services and organisations.

The UK government has included information about challenging decisions in their SEND guide for parents and carers and more detail can be found in Chapter 11 - Resolving Disagreements, in the SEND Code of Practice: 0 to 25 years.