You’re sitting in a school meeting and everyone else at the table has a job title. The SENCO. The educational psychologist. Sometimes someone from the local authority. You’re just Mum, or Dad, or Nan, and it feels like you’re the only person in the room without a script.
There’s a free person whose whole job is to be neutral, informed, and on nobody’s side but the law’s, and most parents never find out they exist until years into the process.
Special Educational Needs and Disabilities Information, Advice and Support Service (SENDIASS) is that free, confidential, and impartial service. Every council in England has to provide one, whether or not your child has a diagnosis, an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP), or has ever been near a tribunal.
That’s the short version. SENDIASS can explain what’s happening, help you write letters, sit next to you in meetings, and point you toward specialist help when your situation is bigger than they can cover. What it can’t do is act as your solicitor. Knowing the difference before you pick up the phone saves you weeks.
What SENDIASS actually does
Ask ten parents what their SENDIASS did for them and you’ll get ten different answers, because the service bends to whatever you’re stuck on.
For some families it’s a phone call explaining what an annual review actually involves before the first one arrives. For others it’s an adviser sitting quietly beside them in a meeting, taking notes so they can listen instead of scribbling. For others it’s help drafting the letter requesting an EHCP needs assessment, worded the way the law actually asks for it.
Under section 32 of the Children and Families Act 2014, every local authority (LA) in England must arrange for children, young people, and their parents to be given advice and information about matters relating to special educational needs and disabilities. In practice, that statutory duty has grown into a fuller support service: advisers explain the law in plain language, help with paperwork, attend meetings alongside you, and connect you to other organisations once your case needs more than they can give.
It’s worth saying plainly: none of this costs anything, and you don’t need a referral from your school or council. You can just ring up.
Who it’s for, and where it stops
There’s no gatekeeping on the way in. You don’t need a diagnosis, you don’t need an EHCP, and nobody checks your income. If your child is struggling and you don’t know what to do about it, that’s reason enough to call.
Section 32 covers “children and young people” as well as their parents, so a young person aged 16 to 25 can contact their local SENDIASS directly, without a parent involved at all. That matters more than it sounds: once a young person turns 16, a lot of the decision-making legally shifts to them, and SENDIASS is built to work with that shift rather than around it.
Where the service usually stops is formal legal representation. An adviser can help you prepare a SEND Tribunal appeal and come to the hearing with you, but most SENDIASS services won’t argue your case for you the way a solicitor would, and what’s offered varies by area, so ask yours. That’s a genuinely different kind of help, covered further down this page.
Finding your local SENDIASS and getting ready to call
Every LA has one, but they’re all run and branded slightly differently, so Hampshire’s service and Rotherham’s won’t look like sister organisations even though they carry the same statutory duty.
The quickest route is the Council for Disabled Children’s local service finder, which lists every SENDIASS in England by area. Your council’s Local Offer website will also carry contact details, and any decision letter about an EHC needs assessment or plan should include them too. If you’re drawing a blank, your child’s Special Educational Needs Coordinator (SENCO) should be able to point you in the right direction.
Before you ring, a few minutes of preparation makes the call far more useful:
- What you need help with - a meeting, a letter, an appeal, or just understanding what’s happening
- Key dates and deadlines - anything from a decision letter, especially response windows
- The documents that matter - the EHCP, the refusal letter, recent school or professional reports
- What outcome you want - it’s easier for an adviser to help once they know what you’re aiming for
Ask for a named adviser if you can. Continuity makes a real difference when a case runs over months rather than weeks.
Getting help: SENDIASS vs IPSEA vs SOS!SEN
SENDIASS, IPSEA, and SOS!SEN get mixed up constantly, partly because parents find all three at the same stressful moment and partly because the names blur together into an alphabet soup. They’re not competing with each other. They sit at different points on the same ladder.
SENDIASS is the free, local, first port of call built into law. It’s impartial, meaning it won’t take your side against the council, only explain the law and support you through the process.
Independent Provider of Special Education Advice (IPSEA) is a national charity that goes further into legal territory. Its volunteer advisers give free, next-step legal information and advice on any educational issue caused by a child’s SEND, and its Call-in Helpline runs every Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday from 9.30am to 2.30pm on 0300 222 5899. IPSEA is the one to call when your case turns on how the law should be interpreted, not just what’s happened.
SOS!SEN is a smaller volunteer charity built specifically around tribunal appeals. Its helpline reviews EHCP paperwork and helps prepare tribunal cases, and it’s upfront that its volunteers “are not solicitors” and can’t act as your solicitors, so it’s practical, experienced support rather than formal legal representation.
Contact fills a different gap again. It’s less about paperwork and more about the load. Its free helpline (0808 808 3555) is for any family raising a disabled child aged 0 to 25, and it covers practical questions and emotional support alike, not just SEND process.
The differences are clearest set out side by side:
| Service | Best for | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| SENDIASS | Understanding the process, meeting support, your first letters | Free |
| IPSEA | Legal advice when the LA’s reasoning looks wrong | Free |
| SOS!SEN | Tribunal preparation and paperwork review | Free |
| Contact | Practical and emotional support beyond the paperwork | Free |
When your SENDIASS isn’t pulling its weight
Quality varies more than anyone would like between areas. Some SENDIASS teams are excellent, staffed by people who’ve spent years fighting exactly the battle you’re facing. Others are under-resourced, slow to respond, or drift closer to the council’s position than the law technically allows.
It’s okay to be disappointed by your local service and still need it. You’re not being difficult by expecting more from something you’re legally entitled to.
If your adviser tells you to “just accept what the council is offering,” discourages you from appealing, or goes weeks without responding, that’s not how an impartial service is supposed to behave. Try asking for a different adviser first, then the service manager, then the council’s formal complaints procedure if it still isn’t working. Our guide to escalating a SEND complaint walks through each stage.
Common misconceptions
“SENDIASS will fight my corner.” Not quite. They’re impartial by law, which means they explain your options and support you through the process, but they won’t argue your case for you the way a solicitor would.
“I need a diagnosis or an EHCP before I call.” Neither is true. The legal definition of special educational needs in section 20 of the Children and Families Act 2014 is based on what a child needs, not what label they’ve been given, and SENDIASS works to the same rule. If your child is on SEN Support or waiting for an assessment, you can still call.
“They’ll tell the school I’ve been in touch.” They won’t, unless you ask them to or there’s a safeguarding concern. Conversations with SENDIASS are confidential.
What to do next
If you’re mid-crisis right now, don’t overthink which service to call first. SENDIASS is free, local, and built to take a first call from someone who doesn’t know where to start.
Write down what’s actually going on in a few sentences, gather anything in writing from the school or council, and ring your local service this week rather than waiting for the right moment. There won’t be one.
If your case turns out to need more than SENDIASS can give, they’ll usually say so, and that’s your cue to try IPSEA or SOS!SEN next.