0808 800 4102

 For the Education Advice Line press option 1
For the Tribunal Support Scheme press option 2

or contact us using our online enquiry form 


Our Education Rights Service provides advice and advocacy on special educational needs provision and entitlements for families of children with an autism spectrum disorder.

For many parents, understanding their entitlements and the processes involved in getting their child's special educational needs met is confusing and complex. Parents can struggle to get the right kind of educational provision for their child.

As you will be only too aware it is very difficult for parents such as myself who are not experienced or well versed in matters of education, to build up an appropriate and convincing case for a tribunal... thanks to your organisation, parents of autistic children now at least have a fighting chance of success.

Our service is provided by volunteers who offer telephone-based advice from their own homes.

We aim to:

  • give accurate information, support and advice on special educational needs provision and entitlements through our education advice line; advisors try to help parents get appropriate educational provision for their child and give advice on issues including getting extra help at school, statutory assessments, statementing, annual reviews, exclusions and admissions
  • offer telephone support and advice on preparing for Special Educational Needs and Disability Tribunals, and representation at Tribunal where appropriate through our tribunal support scheme
  • encourage parents to be confident partners in their child's education, and help them to make informed choices and decisions
  • identify special educational needs issues faced by parents to feed into our campaigning and policy work.

Support from Addleshaw Goddard, Clifford Chance and Exchange Chambers

Our tribunal support scheme gives telephone advice and information to parents who wish to challenge decisions made by their local authority about their child's educational needs and provision at the Special Educational Needs and Disability Tribunal (SENDIST).

We aim to help families to represent themselves at tribunal. However, there are always some situations where families are unable to represent themselves.

As part of their pro bono and community affairs programmes Addleshaw Goddard, Clifford Chance and Exchange Chambers provide free legal representation, where appropriate, for parents of children with an autism spectrum disorder who are challenging decisions at SENDIST. Clifford Chance also host all our volunteer training.