SOUTHAMPTON families applied to tribunals to overturn dozens of council decisions on disabled children’s education last year, figures reveal.

Ministry of Justice data shows 62 appeals were submitted to the Special Educational Needs and Disability tribunal in Southampton in 2020.

The number was up from 48 the year before and more than three times the 20 appeals in 2014.

Children and young people who require extra support for their education are assessed by the local authority.

If it is deemed their needs cannot be met in mainstream education, an Education Health and Care plan is issued, defining the support the child needs.

This is reviewed every 12 months.

Families who disagree with the local authority’s decision not to assess or reassess a child, or not to change their Education Health and Care plan, can lodge an appeal to the SEND tribunal.

In 2020, 1,949 decisions which had the potential of being appealed were made across Southampton, with families appealing 3.2% of them to the tribunal – higher than the 2.6% rate the year before, and the 2.4% rate recorded in 2014.

Some council decisions cannot be appealed through the tribunal and can only be dealt with via the authority’s own complaints procedure.

Disability charity Contact said the system for getting support in school was not working for many children and dedicated funding was needed to prevent an increase in SEND appeals in the future.

Amanda Batten, Contact’s chief executive, said it was likely the rate of appeals dropped last year as families were busy caring for their children at home.

She said: “While the guidance was that schools remain open to some children with SEN during lockdown, in practice many were not in school.

“In addition, the support disabled children sometimes access through school including physiotherapy, speech and language therapy and psychotherapy disappeared, and in some cases they are still not back to pre-pandemic levels.”

Across England, while the number of appeals registered rose to 7,843 in 2020, the proportion of outcomes appealed dropped slightly to 1.7%, from 1.8% in 2019.

The Department for Education said the extension of EHC plans from school-age children to under-25s, as well as a trial to allow tribunals to make other recommendations, explained the rise in the number of appeals.