How will the introduction of the new Practice Direction for SEND and Disability Discrimination Tribunal hearings, effective 15 July 2025, impact you?

Holding the Line for Families in SEND Tribunals

At CodeBreakers, we stand shoulder to shoulder with parents and carers, not just as advocates for literacy, but as allies in every arena where a child’s voice must be heard.

The introduction of the new Practice Direction for SEND and Disability Discrimination Tribunal hearings, effective 15 July 2025, demands a profound reckoning with the values we hold dear.

On the surface, the intention is clear: Greater efficiency. Streamlined hearings. Consistency across cases.

But when process overshadows humanity, children lose.

The Risk: Silencing the Full Story

Families are not simply bringing bundles of paper into these tribunals; they are carrying the full, complex, often painful truth of their child’s educational journey.  To compress a child’s needs, experiences, and potential into a series of page limits, to strip down evidence, rush witness testimonies, and demand procedural perfection, is to flatten the very nuance that makes SEND justice meaningful.

At CodeBreakers, we ask:
How can a tribunal truly hear what matters most, if the structures silence complexity before it even enters the room?

• A 15-page limit on expert reports may erase essential interdisciplinary insights.
• A 10-page witness statement cap may force parents to cut the very heart from their story.
• Page caps on evidence risk favouring “neater”, simpler cases, while the children with the deepest needs get lost between the lines.

The Uneven Playing Field

This new Direction inadvertently widens the gap between those who can afford specialist legal support and those who cannot.
Parents self-representing, often juggling full-time care, employment, and emotional exhaustion, now face an even steeper learning curve just to have their voices admitted into the process.

Justice must be accessible, not a labyrinth only the well-resourced can navigate.

Our Stand: Compassion Over Compliance

At CodeBreakers, we champion the full, complex, beautiful truths of SEND families.
We believe:

• No child’s needs are “too complicated” to be heard.
• No parent’s voice should be quieted because they couldn’t format a bundle to a court’s administrative preference.
• The purpose of a tribunal is to find the truth, not to gatekeep it through rigid procedure.

We call on all SEND Tribunal judges and legal officers to exercise deep compassion and discretion in implementing this new Practice Direction.  We urge Local Authorities and responsible bodies to prioritise child-centred preparation, not simply box-ticking compliance.

Parents and families: You are not too much. Your evidence is not too messy. Your story deserves the space it needs.

Let us not lose sight of why these hearings exist:  Not to protect a system, but to protect a child’s right to learn, to grow, and to thrive.  Too often the system is too slow, met with too many barriers and a child’s education is passing them by.  They are continually not receiving the full support they require, losing their right to an education and at the same time this negatively impacts their mental health and often the families supporting them who have to continue to battle to gain recognition and support. This impact is not left behind at the school gates each day or upon completion of education, often it lasts a lifetime.

For more information, see our next article on this subject