ALN Letter Templates Wales: Formal Letters for Every Stage of an IDP Dispute

Every significant step in a Welsh ALN dispute needs to be in writing. Not because of formality for its own sake, but because written letters create legal obligations that verbal conversations do not. When you write to a school requesting an ALN assessment and cite the correct statutory provisions, you start a formal clock. When you write to the LA referencing Section 32 of the ALN Act, you trigger a 7-week statutory deadline. The right letter at the right time changes what schools and local authorities are legally required to do.

Here are the key letters you may need, what each one must say, and why the language matters.

Letter 1: Requesting an ALN Assessment from the School

This letter asks the school to formally determine whether your child has Additional Learning Needs and, if so, to prepare an Individual Development Plan.

The key elements:

• Address to the ALNCo (Additional Learning Needs Co-ordinator) by name
• Clearly state that you are requesting the school to identify whether your child has ALN under the ALN Act 2018 and the ALN Code for Wales 2021
• Include the legal threshold: your child has a learning difficulty or disability "which calls for Additional Learning Provision additional to, or different from, that made generally for others of the same age in mainstream maintained schools in Wales"
• Describe specifically what your child is struggling with and what support is currently being provided
• Reference any supporting evidence you are enclosing (medical reports, private assessments)
• State that you are aware the school has 35 school days to make its determination and notify you in writing

Why the language matters: If you write "I'm worried my child is struggling and would like some extra help," the school can respond informally. If you write "I am formally requesting that the school make a determination as to whether my child has ALN under Section 14 of the ALN Act 2018," the school is on notice that a formal statutory process has begun and the 35-day clock is running.

Letter 2: Challenging a "No ALN" or "No IDP" Decision

This letter responds to the school's formal decision that your child does not have ALN, or that their needs can be met without an IDP.

The key elements:

• State formally that you disagree with the school's decision
• Reference Chapter 2 of the ALN Code 2021 and the legal definition of ALN
• Explain specifically why the decision is wrong — demonstrate that universal provision has been tried and has not produced expected progress
• Demand a meeting with the ALNCo to discuss the decision
• Warn that if the matter is not resolved, you will refer the case to the local authority under Section 32 of the ALN Act

What not to include: Don't include emotional language about how upset you are. Don't make threats you won't follow through on. Keep it factual, specific, and legally grounded.

Letter 3: Requesting LA Reconsideration (Section 32 Request)

This is the mandatory escalation step before an ETW appeal. If the school has issued a decision you disagree with — whether a No ALN notice, a No IDP notice, or an IDP that is fundamentally inadequate — you must formally request the LA reconsider it.

The key elements:

• Address to the LA's ALN team or lead officer
• State explicitly that you are making a formal request for reconsideration under Section 32 of the ALN Act 2018
• Note the date of the school's decision (enclosed as evidence)
• Set out the grounds on which you disagree with the school's decision
• State that you are aware the LA has 7 weeks to complete its reconsideration and provide a written response
• List evidence enclosed: the school's notification letter, your challenge correspondence, and any supporting reports

This letter is significant because it creates a hard deadline for the LA and explicitly opens the route to the ETW if the reconsideration does not produce a satisfactory outcome.

Letter 4: Challenging IDP Provision Quality (Formal Notice)

This letter is not about the existence of an IDP but about the quality of what's in it — specifically, when the Additional Learning Provision specified in Section 2B uses vague, unenforceable language.

The key elements:

• Quote the exact provision wording in the IDP that you are challenging (e.g., "access to adult support as needed")
• Reference the ALN Code's requirement that ALP must be "detailed, specific, and normally quantified"
• State what the provision should say instead — use the same format: type of support, frequency, duration, staff qualifications
• Reference the independent EP or SaLT report that specifies the required provision
• Request that the IDP be revised within 20 school days, or state that you will initiate the Section 32 reconsideration process

Letter 5: Complaint About Failure to Deliver IDP Provision

Different from the above — this letter is for when an IDP with good provision exists but isn't being implemented.

The key elements:

• Identify specifically which ALP has not been delivered — quote directly from the IDP
• Provide dates and evidence of non-delivery (your monitoring log)
• Reference the statutory duty to secure provision under the ALN Act
• Request written confirmation within 10 working days of when full delivery will resume and the reason for the shortfall
• State that if satisfactory delivery is not confirmed, you will escalate to the Public Services Ombudsman for Wales

Letter 6: ETW Appeal Foundation Letter (Case Statement Outline)

When you submit your ETW appeal (Form ETW03), you also need a Case Statement. This is not a letter in the same sense — it's a structured document — but preparing it requires the same discipline.

Your Case Statement must include:

• The specific grounds of appeal (which decision you are challenging and under which legal provision)
• A chronological summary of events
• Your child's views and feelings
• A list of all documents enclosed as evidence
• What outcome you are seeking and why it meets your child's needs

What the ETW is looking for: Not a narrative of injustice, but a structured legal argument. You are saying: "The LA made Decision X. Decision X is wrong because the evidence shows Y. The correct decision is Z." Every element should map back to a specific section of the ALN Act or the ALN Code.

Getting the Language Right

The most common reason parent correspondence fails to produce results is that it doesn't invoke the statutory framework. Schools and LAs are operating within a legal system. When you write in that language — citing specific sections of the ALN Act, referencing the 35-day or 7-week deadlines, quoting the "quantified and specific" standard from the ALN Code — you shift the conversation from informal to formal.

The Wales ALN Dispute Playbook includes ready-to-use templates for all six letter types above, pre-drafted in the correct statutory language with fill-in sections for your specific circumstances. Get the complete toolkit at /uk/wales/advocacy/.

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