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The number of appeals registered with the Special Education Needs and Disability Tribunal against each local authority for the last three years is shown in the following table.
1 September 2006 to 31 August 2007 1 September 2005 to 31 August 2006 1 September 2004 to 31 August 2005 Barking and Dagenham 7 21 13 Barnet 40 32 40 Barnsley 8 6 6 Bath and North East Somerset 9 11 7 Bedfordshire 15 26 34 Bexley 37 48 20 Birmingham 83 119 158 Blackburn with Darwen 5 7 2 Blackpool 1 4 3 Bolton 5 5 6 Bournemouth 4 4 3 Bracknell Forest 3 7 5 Bradford 21 25 23 Brent 8 17 22 Brighton and Hove 9 12 14 Bristol, City of 49 52 53 Bromley 87 80 53 Buckinghamshire 26 35 30 Bury 9 9 11 Calderdale 16 19 27 Cambridgeshire 27 38 26 Camden 17 9 11 Cheshire 27 46 26 City of London 0 0 0 Cornwall 12 24 20 Coventry 3 6 2 Croydon 62 78 65 Cumbria 17 17 15 Darlington 0 0 3 Derby 10 7 8 Derbyshire 16 19 24 Devon 38 35 32 Doncaster 16 8 4 Dorset 17 15 11 Dudley 11 7 17 Durham 30 28 37 Ealing 15 20 31 East Riding of Yorkshire 9 6 7 East Sussex 66 81 68 Enfield 31 41 22 Essex 179 138 127 Gateshead 4 6 9 Gloucestershire 25 25 19 Greenwich 11 14 21 Hackney 23 28 41 Halton 0 2 5 Hammersmith and Fulham 21 12 17 Hampshire 115 98 104 Haringey 14 32 26 Harrow 19 18 28 Hartlepool 01 0 0 Havering 4 1 0 Herefordshire 3 9 4 Hertfordshire 70 74 84 Hillingdon 11 20 10 Hounslow 15 12 6 Isle of Wight 10 8 9 Isles of Scilly 0 0 0 Islington 8 5 7 Kensington and Chelsea 7. 8 10 Kent 133 160 149 Kingston Upon Hull, City of 15 14 9 Kingston upon Thames 11 13 24 Kirklees 13 24 15 Knowsley 5 8 9 Lambeth 44 58 59 Lancashire 43 63 66 Leeds 13 25 21 Leicester 27 30 21 Leicestershire 74 37 26 Lewisham 52 72 78 Lincolnshire 65 43 42 Liverpool 28 26 21 Luton 3 7 7 Manchester 24 26 28 Medway 23 16 14 Merton 15 21 14 Middlesbrough 8 5 7 Milton Keynes 8 8 9 Newcastle upon Tyne 5 4 3 Newham 23 25 19 Norfolk 56 53 40 North East Lincolnshire 13 9 15 North Lincolnshire 2 15 11 North Somerset 16 13 10 North Tyneside 8 2 10 North Yorkshire 26 30 13 Northamptonshire 25 16 16 Northumberland 4 7 6 Nottingham 7 5 12 Nottinghamshire 30 21 9 Oldham 6 14 11 Oxfordshire 15 25 21 Peterborough 8 8 15 Plymouth 9 8 6 Poole 8 8 6 Portsmouth 9 7 10 Reading 9 2 4 Redbridge 28 30 18 Redcar and Cleveland 5 0 0 Richmond upon Thames 18 25 29 Rochdale 5 5 3 Rotherham 19 20 22 Rutland 0 1 0 Salford 9 14 9 Sandwell 4 8 11 Sefton 7 15 6 Sheffield 35 33 15 Shropshire 17 46 23 Slough 7 5 2 Solihull 9 15 12 Somerset 27 32 26 South Gloucestershire 13 11 8 South Tyneside 2 1 4 Southampton 23 16 7 Southend-on-Sea 10 14 12 Southwark 37 41 46 St. Helens 3 3 3 Staffordshire 17 37 36 Stockport 9 20 6 Stockton-on-Tees 1 3 5 Stoke-on-Trent 19 7 15 Suffolk 53 74 55 Sunderland 10 5 10 Surrey 125 120 120 Sutton 23 16 8 Swindon 4 9 7 Tameside 18 4 7 Telford and Wrekin 3 4 6 Thurrock 7 11 11 Torbay 2 2 4 Tower Hamlets 12 2 4 Trafford 10 13 17 Wakefield 9 7 5 Walsall 14 13 27 Waltham Forest 15 24 32 Wandsworth 30 30 35 Warrington 5 6 1 Warwickshire 10 18 9 West Berkshire 10 7 4 West Sussex 56 43 39 Westminster 10 14 11 Wigan 4 10 14 Wiltshire 23 58 47 Windsor and Maidenhead 9 17 14 Wirral 7 6 9 Wokingham 5 6 8 Wolverhampton 4 2 9 Worcestershire 15 24 38 York 5 1 4 Total 3,110 3,411 3,215
The Special Educational Needs and Disability Tribunal (SENDIST) records the average time taken from registering an SEN appeal to issuing a decision by the school year from September to August. This information has been previously published in the SENDIST annual reports.
The following table shows the average time taken from registration of an SEN appeal by SENDIST to the time a decision following a tribunal hearing is issued.
School year Number decisions issued Average number of months 2004-05 1,147 4.4 2005-06 1,038 5.2 2006-07 1,045 5.5 Note: Not all appeals registered end up with a decision as a substantial number of appeals are withdrawn by the parent or conceded by the local authority.
SENDIST also registers claims of disability discrimination and the following table shows the average time taken from registration of a claim to the issue of a decision.
School year Number of decisions Average number of months 2004-05 55 6.1 2005-06 56 5.5 2006-07 85 5.7
SENDIST reports that these claims have proved to be more complicated than SEN appeals involving much paperwork, lengthy hearings and many witnesses and this is reflected in the average disposal time.