The route depends on the timing
You have two options for getting Section F amended:
- At the annual review. This is the standard route. The annual review happens at least once every 12 months (SEND Code 9.166). You propose amendments in your written contribution and at the meeting; the council decides within 4 weeks of the meeting whether to amend.
- At an early review. If your child's needs have changed significantly, or if the current provision has demonstrably stopped working, you can request an early review at any time. Paragraph 9.193 of the SEND Code allows interim reviews where the school, the council, or you ask for one. The council should consider the request and usually grants it where need is evident.
Most parents underuse the early-review route. If your child's hours are not enough and you have evidence of that, you don't have to wait until the annual review month to act.
The evidence that moves the needle
Adding hours is a redistribution of council money. You're asking the council to fund more support; they're going to want to see that the current support is being delivered as written and is still not enough. The evidence stack:
- A recent Educational Psychologist (EP) report. Either commissioned by the council at the last review, or commissioned privately. The EP's recommended provision is usually the strongest single document; if the EP's recommendation was for X hours and the plan funds half of X, that's the simplest argument.
- A SaLT, OT, or specialist clinician letter. Specific to the need being addressed. A letter saying “Jamie requires 30 minutes of direct SLT input twice weekly” is what gets reflected in Section F.
- School data. Reading and writing assessments showing the gap to age-expected is widening. Behaviour incident logs showing rising frequency. Attendance data if non-attendance is part of the picture.
- Evidence the current provision has been delivered. This matters more than parents realise. If the school has been delivering the existing hours and your child is still struggling, that's a case for more. If the school hasn't been delivering them, the council will argue the answer is for the school to deliver the existing hours, not for the council to fund more.
- Your parent contribution. Specific examples, dated, with the impact named. Not “homework is hard”; “the Year 4 homework took 90 minutes with constant adult support and ended in tears on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday last week.”
Specific and quantified, or it doesn't count
If the council agrees and amends Section F, the amendment must be specific and quantified (SEND Code 9.69). “Increased support” is not an amendment; “an additional 5 hours per week of 1:1 TA support, in literacy and maths, delivered by a TA trained in the [named programme]” is.
When you draft your proposed amendment, write it exactly as you want it to appear in Section F. The amendment is what the council is being asked to fund; vague proposals invite vague amendments, which the council can comply with by doing essentially nothing.
If the council refuses
If the council decides not to amend, or amends without giving you the additional hours, you'll receive a decision letter (after the annual review) or the unchanged plan. You have 2 months from the council's decision to appeal Section F to the SEND Tribunal.
Section F appeals are the most common type at the Tribunal. They turn on the evidence: on whether the gap between the proposed provision and what the evidence supports is large enough that the Tribunal will direct the council to increase it. The HMCTS Tribunal Statistics show parents win the majority of Section F appeals; the appeal is the route designed for this.
Where the law comes from
Related
This page is general information, not clinical or legal advice.