SEND Tribunal Page Limits and Practice Directions: What You Need to Know

Last updated: March 2026

By Stevie Hayes

Quick Answer

Since July 2025, SEND tribunal bundles are subject to strict page limits under Practice Direction No. 1 of 2025. The bundle is divided into seven Parts: Part One (the Core Tribunal Bundle, 100 pages), Part Two (the EHC Plan and Section K appendices, 150 pages), and Parts Three to Seven (per-party evidence, 75 or 100 pages each party depending on the appeal type). Bundles must be in electronic PDF format with sequential page numbering, OCR text recognition, bookmarks, and a hyperlinked index. Exceeding the page limit requires permission from the tribunal, and requests are not granted automatically. Understanding these rules — and planning for them from the start — is essential for any parent or professional preparing a SEND tribunal appeal.

A note on terminology. This article uses two different sets of labels, and it is important not to confuse them:

• Bundle Parts (One to Seven) — the structural divisions of the tribunal bundle, set out in Practice Direction No. 1 of 2025.
• EHC Plan Sections (A to K) — the statutory sections of an EHC Plan, set by the Children and Families Act 2014 and the SEND Code of Practice. Section B is needs, Section F is provision, Section I is placement, and Section K is the appendices.

When you read "Part One", we mean a structural division of the bundle. When you read "Section B" or "Section F", we mean part of the EHC Plan itself. The Practice Direction uses both, and so do we.

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Why Were Page Limits Introduced?

For years, SEND tribunal bundles grew unchecked. It was not unusual for bundles to run to 500, 800, or even 1,000 pages. Tribunal panels found themselves wading through vast quantities of paper — much of it duplicated, outdated, or irrelevant — looking for the evidence that actually mattered.

The result was predictable. Hearings took longer. Preparation time ballooned. The most important evidence was buried under the weight of the less important. And parents, who often run their own cases without legal representation, were particularly disadvantaged — not because they were preparing the bundle (the local authority does that, by long-standing practice and now under paragraph 20 of the 2025 Practice Direction), but because the evidence they sent the LA was getting lost in vast piles of unrelated material.

Practice Direction No. 1 of 2025, which applies to hearings listed after 15 July 2025, changed this. It imposed page limits for the first time and set clear formatting standards for electronic bundles. The aim is straightforward: smaller, better-organised bundles that help the tribunal focus on what matters.

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The Bundle Structure: Parts One to Seven

Practice Direction No. 1 of 2025 divides the SEND tribunal bundle into seven Parts. Each Part has its own purpose and its own page limit. The Practice Direction uses these names verbatim, and so should you when corresponding with the tribunal or the local authority.

Part One: The Core Tribunal Bundle (100 pages)

Part One is the procedural backbone of the bundle. Schedule One of the Practice Direction says it "must include":

• The parents' or young person's notice of appeal and any reasons for appeal or amended grounds of appeal
• The LA decision letter
• The LA response to the appeal and any supplementary or amended response
• Any requests for change made, with the other side's views
• All Tribunal orders
• Any further written submissions made by the parties by order of the Tribunal
• The Case Review Form

Part One is capped at 100 pages and is the LA's responsibility to compile (paragraph 20). It does not eat into your evidence allowance.

Part Two: The EHC Plan and Section K Appendices (150 pages)

Part Two contains, where relevant to the appeal:

• A copy of the EHC Plan under appeal
• All appendices listed in Section K of the EHC Plan that are relevant to the issues in the appeal

Part Two is capped at 150 pages. If the EHC Plan and its Section K appendices together exceed 150 pages, the LA must apply to the Tribunal for permission to include the additional relevant appendices. Part Two is also the LA's responsibility.

Parts Three to Seven: Per-Party Evidence

Parts Three to Seven hold the substantive evidence each party submits — professional reports, assessments, school records, witness statements, parent statements, and similar documents. These Parts are split into a per-party allowance, and the page limit depends on the type of appeal.

Important: These are per-party limits. The LA has its own 75- or 100-page allowance for Parts Three to Seven, and you have yours. They do not share a single limit.

How the Parts Add Up

For a typical Section B and F appeal, the maximum total bundle size would be:

That is still a substantial bundle, but it is a far cry from the 800-page monsters of the pre-2025 era.

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What Counts Towards Your Parts Three to Seven Allowance?

Understanding what counts towards your per-party evidence allowance — and what sits in a different Part of the bundle — is crucial for staying within the limit.

Counts Towards Your Parts Three to Seven Allowance

• Independent professional reports you have commissioned (EP, SALT, OT, etc.)
• School records and progress data you submit
• Your parent or witness statements
• Medical or health reports you submit
• Correspondence you choose to include as evidence
• Any other documents you are relying on as evidence

Does NOT Count Towards Your Parts Three to Seven Allowance

• The EHC Plan and the appendices listed at Section K of the Plan — these sit in Part Two of the bundle (separate 150-page limit)
• The appeal form, LA response, Tribunal orders, and Case Review Form — these sit in Part One of the bundle (separate 100-page limit)
• The working document (treated as a Part One document — see your case directions)
• Documents already appended at Section K of the EHC Plan (unless you submit a different version separately as evidence)

The Section K Trap

This is worth highlighting. If a professional report is already appended to the EHC Plan at Section K of the Plan, it sits in Part Two of the bundle (the 150-page EHC Plan and Section K allowance). You do not need to duplicate it in your Parts Three to Seven evidence — paragraph 38 of the Practice Direction expressly forbids "duplicates of documents already appended to the Education, Health and Care (EHC) plan". However, if the Section K version is outdated and you have commissioned an updated version, the new report is fresh evidence and counts towards your Parts Three to Seven allowance.

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How to Stay Within the Page Limits

Seventy-five or a hundred pages may sound generous, but it can fill up quickly when you have multiple professional reports, a detailed parent statement, and years of school records. Here are practical strategies for staying within the limits.

1. Prioritise Ruthlessly

Not every document is equally important. Rank your evidence by relevance and impact:

• Essential: Reports that directly address the disputed issues (e.g., an EP report on your child's needs, a SALT report recommending specific provision)
• Supporting: Documents that provide useful context (e.g., school progress data)
• Peripheral: Documents that are tangentially relevant but not central to the issues

Include essential documents in full. Include supporting documents selectively (relevant extracts rather than the complete report). Consider excluding peripheral documents altogether.

2. Use Summaries and Extracts

You do not have to include every page of every report. For lengthy school records or medical notes, include a summary page with references to the full documents. The tribunal can always request the originals if needed.

For professional reports, include the full report if it is directly relevant to the disputed issues. If only certain sections are relevant (for example, the recommendations section of an OT report), you can include an extract — but be transparent about it. Never cherry-pick in a way that misrepresents the expert's conclusions.

3. Avoid Duplication

Check carefully for duplicates. If the same letter appears in both your correspondence file and the LA's evidence, you do not need to include it twice. Similarly, if a report is at Section K, do not duplicate it in your evidence section.

4. Keep Your Parent Statement Focused

Parent statements have a tendency to grow. You want to tell the tribunal everything about your child, every battle with the school, every sleepless night. That is understandable — but a focused 8-10 page statement is more effective than a 30-page narrative.

Structure your statement around:

• Your child's needs (linked to specific professional findings)
• The impact on daily life, education, and wellbeing
• What you are asking the tribunal to order (and why)

5. Plan Your Page Budget Early

Before you start assembling the evidence pack you will send to the local authority, plan how you will allocate your pages within your Parts Three to Seven allowance. Remember that the LA prepares the formal bundle. Your job is to make sure your evidence fits within your party allowance so the LA can include it without objection.

If your estimate exceeds the limit, decide before commissioning reports what to prioritise. It is easier to plan ahead than to cut material after the fact.

Need to stay within page limits? BundleCreator.co tracks your page count as you build your evidence pack, so you always know exactly where you stand against your per-party allowance. Automatic pagination ensures every page is numbered correctly, and the platform generates the compliant four-column index and bookmarks the local authority will include in the bundle. Start your free trial.

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Applying for Permission to Exceed the Limit

If you genuinely cannot present your case within the page limit, you can apply to the tribunal for permission to exceed it. This is not automatic — you need to make a persuasive case.

When Permission May Be Granted

• Your child has complex, multi-faceted needs spanning several areas (e.g., ASD, ADHD, sensory processing difficulties, and a physical disability)
• Multiple independent experts have been instructed and each report is essential
• The appeal covers multiple sections of the EHC Plan
• There is a long and complex history that the tribunal needs to understand

How to Apply

Write to the tribunal explaining:

1. Why the additional pages are necessary — not merely useful, but necessary for a fair hearing
2. How many additional pages you need — be specific (e.g., "an additional 25 pages")
3. What the additional pages contain — identify the specific documents
4. Why the material cannot be summarised or reduced further

Tips for a Successful Application

• Apply early, not at the last minute
• Be specific about the number of additional pages
• Explain what you have already done to reduce the bundle (e.g., "I have excluded X and summarised Y, but the remaining evidence cannot be reduced further without prejudicing my case")
• Do not ask for a blanket increase — explain exactly what the extra pages contain

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Electronic Bundle Requirements

The practice direction mandates electronic PDF bundles. Physical paper bundles are no longer the default. Here are the formatting requirements.

Mandatory Requirements

Why These Requirements Matter

The tribunal panel reads bundles on screen — often on laptops or tablets. Hyperlinked indices and bookmarks allow them to navigate quickly. OCR means they can search for specific terms. Sequential page numbering means both parties and the panel are literally on the same page when discussing evidence.

Non-compliant bundles cause delays. The tribunal may direct you to reformat and resubmit, which wastes time and can push back your hearing date.

Formatting your evidence pack to meet practice direction requirements? The local authority prepares the formal bundle, but BundleCreator.co makes sure the evidence you send the LA already meets the rules — sequential pagination, hyperlinked four-column index, bookmarks, OCR, and the page-limit tracking that keeps you within your party allowance. Upload your documents, arrange them in order, and export a compliant PDF in minutes. See how it works.

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Delivery Deadlines

The bundle deadline is set in your case directions. Practice Direction No. 1 of 2025 itself does not name a specific number of working days — paragraph 50 simply requires the LA to send the bundle to HMCTS "by the Tribunal Bundle deadline" and paragraph 51 requires the appellant to be copied in at the same time. In practice, and consistent with HESC Practice Guidance No 2 of 2024 and IPSEA's published guidance, that deadline is typically at least 10 working days before the hearing, although your own case directions are the authoritative source for your appeal. The deadline applies to the final, agreed bundle — not drafts or partial submissions.

Key Dates to Track

Missing the bundle deadline can result in evidence being excluded. If you are running behind, apply to the tribunal for an extension before the deadline passes — not after.

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What Changed from Pre-2025 Practice?

For parents or professionals who dealt with SEND tribunals before July 2025, here is a summary of what has changed.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Do the page limits apply to both parties equally?

Yes. The Parts Three to Seven per-party evidence limits apply separately to the local authority and to the parent or young person. Each side has its own allowance. Part One (the Core Tribunal Bundle, 100 pages) and Part Two (the EHC Plan and Section K appendices, 150 pages) are the LA's responsibility to compile and are separate from your evidence allowance.

What is the difference between a "Part" and a "Section"?

This is a common source of confusion. Parts (One to Seven) are the structural divisions of the tribunal bundle set out in Practice Direction No. 1 of 2025 — Part One is the Core Tribunal Bundle, Part Two is the EHC Plan and Section K appendices, and Parts Three to Seven hold the evidence each party is relying on. Sections (A to K) are the statutory parts of the EHC Plan itself under the Children and Families Act 2014 — Section B is needs, Section F is provision, Section I is placement, and Section K is the appendices. So when you read "Appeal against Section B and Section F", that means an appeal about parts of the EHC Plan; when you read "Part One of the bundle", that means a structural division of the tribunal bundle. The Practice Direction uses both, so you need to read carefully.

What happens if I exceed the page limit without permission?

The tribunal may direct you to reduce your bundle to within the limit, or it may refuse to consider the excess pages. In practice, the tribunal will usually give you an opportunity to comply rather than excluding evidence without warning — but it is not guaranteed.

Do the page limits apply to appeals registered before July 2025?

The practice direction applies to hearings listed after 15 July 2025, regardless of when the appeal was registered. If your appeal was lodged before that date but your hearing is listed after it, the page limits apply.

Can I submit additional evidence after the bundle is filed?

You can apply to submit late evidence, but the tribunal may refuse if it is too close to the hearing or if the evidence could have been obtained earlier. Always submit evidence within the directed timescales where possible.

How do I make my PDF bundle OCR-searchable?

Most modern scanning software includes an OCR option. If you are scanning paper documents, ensure OCR is enabled during scanning. For documents already in PDF format, tools such as Adobe Acrobat can add an OCR layer. BundleCreator.co applies OCR automatically when you build your evidence pack.

Do photographs or images count as full pages?

Yes. Each page in your bundle counts as one page, regardless of whether it contains text, images, or photographs. If you are including photographs (for example, of your child's classroom or handwriting samples), be selective.

Is the working document included in the page limit?

The working document is generally treated as a Part One (Core Tribunal Bundle) document rather than counting towards your Parts Three to Seven per-party evidence limit. However, check your case directions for confirmation.

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Stevie Hayes is the founder of BundleCreator.co, a platform that helps SEND families prepare evidence packs to send to the local authority — paginated, indexed, and within the per-party page limits set by Practice Direction No. 1 of 2025. The local authority prepares the formal tribunal bundle. BundleCreator helps you make sure what you send them is fit to be included.