Evidence the council has not gathered
The council's evidence describes the child it assessed. The Evidence Pack describes yours.
Eight discrete reports from a regulated team: a social care needs assessment, a care plan, a child profile, brokerage, a comparative analysis of the plan against the evidence, provider profiles for at least two schools, a provision analysis comparing them, and an executive summary, each compliant with the tribunal's practice direction. Little Nellies is the SEND and EHCP service of Nellie Supports Ltd, a private social work practice in England.
£3,600 including VAT. 30 hours of primary assessment by registered social workers and a Chartered Psychologist, delivered as eight discrete reports the tribunal can admit.
At a glance
Stage
Content appeal or draft plan, evidence needed
Deadline in play
The evidence date in the tribunal's directions
Fee
£3,600 including VAT
Hours included
30
Who delivers
Registered social workers and a Chartered Psychologist
Where
England only
£3,600
Fixed fee, including VAT
30 hours
Work included
Practice Direction No. 1 of 2025
Reports compliant with
Professional help
Qualified expert MDT
Plain English explanation
What the EHCP Evidence Pack is
Primary assessment of your child by a regulated team, delivered as eight discrete reports for an EHCP appeal: a social care needs assessment, a care plan, a child profile, brokerage, a comparative analysis of the plan against the evidence gathered, provider profiles for at least two schools, a provision analysis comparing them, and an executive summary. Each is written to SEND Tribunal Practice Direction No. 1 of 2025 so it can be admitted on its own.
A registered social worker assesses your child's social care needs and writes the care plan. The Chartered Psychologist contributes the child profile. We broker the provision the child needs across a week, profile the schools in dispute after visits and written questions, set them against each other in the provision analysis, and set the plan against the whole of it in the comparative analysis.
It is not a diagnosis of any kind, and it is not the statutory educational psychology, speech and language or occupational therapy advice an EHC needs assessment requires; those are referred to independent specialists. The comparative analysis compares the plan against the evidence gathered; it is never an assessment of your child's educational needs.
The tribunal will not take anyone's word for a placement
If Section I is in dispute, the panel needs written evidence that your school can meet need and the council's cannot. The provider profiles and the provision analysis are that evidence. Without them, a placement appeal is a parent's opinion against a council's.
Is this you
Is this you?
The plan is wrong and you know why, but the evidence to prove it does not exist. The council's advice was written from a single observation. Nobody has assessed his social care needs at all. The school you want has never been compared, in writing, against the one the council has named, and the tribunal will not take your word for it.
The Evidence Pack is primary assessment, not a review of other people's reports. A registered social worker and a Chartered Psychologist assess your child, build the placement evidence for Section I, and set the plan against what they found. Each component is a separate report written to the tribunal's practice direction, so each can be admitted on its own.
The council's advice was written from one observation and it does not describe him.
Nobody has ever assessed her social care needs.
We want a specialist school and the bundle has nothing comparing the two.
The working document keeps stalling because there is no evidence for the amendments.
The tribunal's directions ask for expert evidence and we have none.
Our appeal is on Section I and the hearing is in four months.
What is included
What we do for this fee
30 hours of primary assessment and report writing, in eight components.
Social care needs assessment (registered social worker)
Care plan
Child profile (Chartered Psychologist)
Brokerage
Provider profiles and provision analysis (Section I evidence)
Comparative analysis and executive summary
How this fee is calculated
The Evidence Pack is £3,600 including VAT for all eight components, fixed at instruction. Bought separately from Nellie Supports, the needs assessment and care plan are £1,320 including VAT and brokerage is £480, which is £1,800 for two of the eight. Anything outside this scope is agreed in writing before it starts.
1
What the Tribunal needs from a report
The tribunal decides a content appeal on the evidence in the bundle. Practice Direction No. 1 of 2025 requires each expert report to be an individual document within a page limit, with an executive summary, and no older than the recency rule allows. Section 37 of the Children and Families Act 2014 requires provision to be specified; section 39 requires the council to name your school unless it can show unsuitability, incompatibility with the efficient education of others, or inefficient use of resources.
Relevant evidence for the issues in the appeal
Practice Direction No. 1 of 2025
The council carries the burden on Section I
Social care needs belong in the plan
2
Evidence for provision and placement
Placement disputes are lost when the family cannot show, in evidence, that the school it wants can meet need and the one the council named cannot. Provision disputes are lost when the need itself has never been assessed. The Evidence Pack answers both: the assessment and care plan evidence the need, the provider profiles and provision analysis are Section I placement evidence, and the comparative analysis sets the plan against what the assessment found.
Children and Families Act 2014, sections 37, 39 and 51; SEND Tribunal Practice Direction No. 1 of 2025 (15 page limit per report, 2 page executive summary, 3 year recency rule); Care Act 2014 and Children Act 1989 section 17 for the social care assessment; SEND Code of Practice 2015, paragraphs 9.69 and 9.78 to 9.94.
The test
The evidence requirements for an EHCP appeal
Instruction and scoping
We confirm the fee in writing and invoice at instruction. The schools to be profiled and the evidence date are agreed.
Assessment visits
The registered social worker assesses at home; the Chartered Psychologist contributes the child profile.
School visits and questions
Both settings visited where possible and written questions put to each, so the profiles are evidence and not description.
The eight reports
Each written as a standalone document with its executive summary, within the practice direction's limits.
Into the bundle
Delivered on or before the tribunal's evidence date, indexed for the bundle, and read with you before it goes in.
What happens and when
What happens and when
Evidence we build
Evidence we build
This is the one service on the site where the evidence is created rather than gathered. It is primary assessment by a regulated team.
Social care needs assessment and care plan, from home visits by a registered social worker
Child profile from the Chartered Psychologist
Brokerage: the provision identified, sourced and costed
Provider profiles for at least two schools, from visits and written questions
Provision analysis and comparative analysis, setting schools and plan against the assessment
What you receive
What you receive
Social care needs assessment
Care plan
Child profile
Brokerage
Provider profiles for at least two schools, and the provision analysis comparing them
Comparative analysis of the plan against the evidence, and the executive summary
Free help exists
Free help exists, and we say so
Three organisations give free, independent help with EHCPs and appeals. We name them because they are good, and because you should know what we add on top.
IPSEA
Free legally based advice on EHC needs assessments, plans and appeals, with a helpline and model letters.
SOS!SEN
A charity helpline and walk-in service giving free advice on the assessment and appeal process.
SENDIASS
Your local, free and impartial information, advice and support service, which every council must provide.
What we add
Done-for-you delivery. The evidence built and framed, the documents drafted and lodged, a regulated team, and one practitioner from the first call to the last letter.
The Evidence Pack
£3,600 including VAT
- Eight components, one fee
- Primary assessment by registered social workers and a Chartered Psychologist
- Each report compliant with Practice Direction No. 1 of 2025
- Invoiced at instruction
Invoiced at instruction. No refund once work has started.
With the content appeal
£8,280 including VAT
- Content appeal package with the working document: £5,400 including VAT
- Plus the Evidence Pack: £8,280 including VAT
- Through to a hearing: £10,080 including VAT
- Hearing attendance not charged if the council concedes
The full content appeal with the Evidence Pack sits below the published solicitor indication for a contested contents appeal, and includes primary assessment a solicitor does not provide.
The journey
The Evidence Pack, itemised
Eight components for one fee. The first four are primary assessment; the second four turn it into tribunal evidence.
For parents
A fixed fee you know before you start. Reports the tribunal can read as expert evidence rather than a parent's statement. The placement question answered on paper before the hearing.
For SENCOs and professionals who refer
The provider profiles are built with the settings, not against them. Both schools are visited and asked the same written questions, and the analysis is shared with the setting the family wants.
Why us
Why families choose the Evidence Pack
No advocate offers primary assessment. Little Nellies can, because it is the SEND service of a regulated social work practice: registered social workers and a Chartered Psychologist assess your child and write the evidence the tribunal can admit, in a form no other part of the market produces.
Why families choose Little Nellies
The Evidence Pack, primary assessment no advocate offers
Eight discrete reports, each tribunal ready
Section I placement evidence, named as such
The whole child, including health and social care
Registered social workers and a Chartered Psychologist
Every finding referenced to the assessment
A family's content appeal had narrowed to Section I. The council had named a mainstream secondary with a resource base. The family wanted an independent specialist school. The council's advice said the mainstream setting could meet need; nothing in the bundle said otherwise except the parents' own statement.
The registered social worker completed a social care needs assessment and care plan across two home visits, with the Chartered Psychologist contributing the child profile. The brokerage identified the provision the child actually required across a week, in and out of school.
Provider profiles were written for both settings after visits and written questions to each. The provision analysis set the two side by side against the care plan, line by line. The comparative analysis then set the final plan against everything the assessment had found.
Eight reports went into the bundle, each within the page limit with its executive summary. The council conceded the placement four weeks before the hearing, and no hearing fee was charged on the family's appeal package.
This is an illustrative composite. It does not describe any individual family, and it is not a promise about any outcome.
In practice
Frequently asked questions
What is in the EHCP Evidence Pack?
Eight components: a social care needs assessment, a care plan, a child profile, brokerage, a comparative analysis of the plan against the evidence, provider profiles for at least two schools, a provision analysis comparing them, and an executive summary. Each is a separate report.
Is the Evidence Pack a diagnosis?
No. It is primary social work and psychological assessment of needs and provision. It does not diagnose any condition, and it is not the statutory educational psychology, speech and language or occupational therapy advice, which is referred to independent specialists.
What is Practice Direction No. 1 of 2025?
The SEND Tribunal's rules for expert evidence: a 15 page limit per individual report, a two page executive summary, and a three year recency rule. Each Evidence Pack report is written to it so it can be admitted on its own.
How much does the EHCP Evidence Pack cost with Little Nellies?
£3,600 including VAT, fixed, for all eight components. With the content appeal package it is £8,280 including VAT, or £10,080 through to a hearing, with attendance not charged if the council concedes.
Do I need the Evidence Pack for every appeal?
No. Where the council's own advice supports the amendments, the appeal runs on that. The pack is for appeals where the need has never been assessed, or where Section I is in dispute and the bundle has nothing comparing the schools.
Are you solicitors?
No. Little Nellies is the SEND and EHCP service of Nellie Supports Ltd, a private social work practice. We do not give regulated legal advice, and where a case needs a solicitor we say so.
Read more
Related EHCP guides
The appeal against Sections B, F and I, with the working document included. The pack supplies its evidence.
For families who lodged the appeal themselves; the pack's findings feed the amendments.
If a hearing is listed, the practitioner who built the evidence presents it.
Other stages
Book a call
Book your free 15-minute call
Tell us where you are: what has been sent, what the council has said, and the date on the letter. On the call we confirm the stage, the deadline in play and whether this is the right service. We do not give advice on the call and we do not pressure you to buy.
Written by Ben Slater, Founder and Principal Social Worker, registered social worker (Social Work England). Reviewed by Ben Slater, Principal Social Worker, registered with Social Work England. Last reviewed 10 September 2026. Read our editorial policy.