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SEND Parents Help

The SEND Parents Help Blog

Stories & Guidance from the Frontline

Clear, practical help for families navigating SEND in England, written by people who have walked the same road.

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Series

Reading series

Getting Started with AI 3 parts AI for SEND Paperwork 12 parts Getting an EHCP 2 parts Claiming DLA for Your Child 4 parts SEND Benefits 5 parts Appeals & Tribunals 4 parts
Featured · Benefits & Finance

DLA for disabled children: what the numbers show

860,000 children were receiving Disability Living Allowance in August 2025, and the number has roughly doubled in a decade. Here is what the official data shows about who gets it, for what, and what it pays.

5 min read
Read the article
Education & School 18 June 2026

EHCPs have nearly doubled. Here's who has one

There were 638,745 EHCPs in force in England in January 2025, up almost 11% in a year and nearly double the number in 2019. Here is what the official data shows about how many children have a plan, and for which needs.

5 min read
Rights & Legal 18 June 2026

Which councils do parents appeal against most?

More than 22,000 families appealed to the SEND tribunal in England in 2024, but how likely your council is to end up there varies more than twentyfold. Here is what the data shows, council by council, and how to appeal.

4 min read

Latest guidance

Education & School 18 June 2026

SEND and school exclusions: what the data shows

There were 955,000 suspensions in England's schools in 2023/24, and children with SEND were suspended and excluded far more often than their peers. Here is what the official data shows, and what your rights are.

4 min read
Rights & Legal 18 June 2026

SEND tribunal appeals: who appeals, and who wins

Appeals to the SEND tribunal hit a record 25,000 in 2024/25, and 99% of the cases that were decided went in the family's favour. Here is what the official data shows about who appeals and what happens.

5 min read
Education & School 17 June 2026

EHCP timeliness by council: the 2024 data

Just 46.4% of new EHCPs were issued within the 20-week legal deadline in England in 2024, the lowest share in six years. Search every local authority to see how your council compares.

6 min read

Reading series

Step-by-step sets of posts that build on each other. Start at part one or dip in.

Getting Started with AI 3 parts

New to AI? Start here. Three short guides that take you from never having used a chatbot to confidently asking the assistant for help with SEND paperwork.
AI for SEND Paperwork 12 parts

A step-by-step series on using the free assistant for the SEND jobs parents dread, from the DLA form to a tribunal bundle.
Getting an EHCP 2 parts

What an EHCP is, how to ask for one, and how to make the support inside it actually happen, with plain-English guidance for parents in England.
Claiming DLA for Your Child 4 parts

Disability Living Allowance is the gateway benefit for disabled children. How to apply, what to do if you are turned down, and what changes at 16.
SEND Benefits 5 parts

Beyond DLA: the other benefits and grants a disabled child may be entitled to, how they connect, and the order to claim them in.
Appeals & Tribunals 4 parts

When a decision is wrong, this is how you challenge it, step by step, from a refusal to assess all the way to a SEND Tribunal hearing.

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