School placing requests and appeal hearings: guidance for local authorities

Introduction

The guidance is non-statutory and explains the changes to the Education (Appeal Committee Procedures) (Scotland) Regulations 1982 (“the 1982 Regulations”). It provides guidance for managing the process for placing request appeals made under the Education (Scotland) Act 1980 (“1980 Act”) and the Education (Additional Support for Learning) (Scotland) Act 2004 (for appeals which would be heard by the Education Appeal Committee) and appeals against exclusions of pupils under the 1980 Act.

During the COVID 19 pandemic changes were made to regulations to permit the use of remote means (i.e. video, teleconferencing and wholly written means) to conduct appeal hearings. Scottish Ministers consulted in 2024 on whether to make use of remote means in appeal hearings a permanent feature of the appeals process.

The consultation showed there was a strong consensus in favour of the use of remote means in appeal hearings and for their use to become a permanent feature of the school admission and exclusion appeals process. The consultation also highlighted a desire for the ability for appeals to be held in-person to be retained - Use of remote technology in school admission and exclusion appeal hearings: Consultation Analysis. 

Following Scottish Ministers’ consideration of the views expressed in the consultation, new regulations have been published which amend the 1982 Regulations. See the Education (Appeal Committee Procedures) (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2025.

The amendments made by these regulations come into force on 1 August 2025 and:

• introduce a new definition of “hearing”, which allows for hearings to be held remotely or through the use of “remote facilities”, which is also defined
• ensure that, where an appellant wishes to attend the hearing in person, the education authority must make arrangements for them to do so;
• ensure that individuals who may be digitally excluded continue to have access to in-person hearings
• provide for appeal hearings to be held in person, wholly remotely, or partly remotely and partly in person (hybrid), ensuring greater choice and accessibility for appellants
• require that where an appeal involves a mix of in-person and remote participants (which will be particularly relevant to combined hearings with multiple appellants), an appellant who wishes to attend in person can do so and all appeal committee members must attend in person

This document provides guidance to education authorities and appeal committees who are required to comply with the 1982 Regulations.

The Choosing a School Guide is available on-line and education authorities can continue to signpost parents to these documents for information about the relevant timeframes and deadlines that apply to the placing request and appeal processes.

Arrangements for appeal hearings from 1 August 2025

Appellant’s preference for an “in-person” appeal hearing

The amendments to the 1982 Regulations provide that, where an appellant would prefer to attend an appeal hearing in person, education authorities must make arrangements for them to do so. It is for education authorities to arrange a suitable process to ascertain whether an appellants’ preference is for an in-person hearing. 

Use of remote means for appeal hearings

Remote hearings are now considered to be a permanent feature of the appeals process.

It should be noted that where an appellant’s preference is for a remote hearing, education authorities do not have the same obligation to make arrangements for an appeal hearing to be held in line with that preference. Education authorities are however, expected to be flexible and empower appellants by giving them the choice in how they engage with the appeals process. While an appeal committee may in some cases prefer for an in-person hearing we expect this to not override the appellant’s stated choice. Education authorities are expected to act reasonably and to agree to such requests as far as is practicable.

Parents have the right to be represented at a hearing, whether it is conducted in-person or remotely, and the appellant may be accompanied by up to three others (including any person representing the appellant).

For details of the process and key deadlines please see the choosing a school guide.