ALN and IDP checklist and organiser for parents (Wales)
For parents, carers and young people in Wales dealing with additional learning needs, IDPs and appeals, on A4. Here is a practical way to organise the reports, letters and plans so you can find everything quickly and keep track of every time limit.
Checked against official sources on 3 November 2026.
The quick version
- Keep every report, letter and plan in one binder, split into the sections below.
- Write down every date and time limit the moment you get a letter.
- Follow up every call or meeting with an email, and log it.
- Check each week that the support in the plan is actually happening.
Asking for an aln decision
- Write down what your child finds hard and what helps
- Gather school reports, health letters and your own notes
- Talk to the ALNCo or class teacher first
- Look for the template request letter linked from SNAP Cymru's ALN pages
- Ask the school in writing to consider your child's needs
- Ask for an ALN decision, and an IDP if ALN is found
- Describe how the needs affect learning, not just the diagnosis
- Keep a copy and note the date it was received
- Note the timescale: 35 school days for a school, 12 weeks for a council
- Check you've been told who the designated person is
- Go to the initial meeting and share your child's views
- Ask for the decision and the reasons in writing
- Raise it with the ALNCo, then the school's complaints procedure
- Ask the council to reconsider. It must reply within 7 weeks
- Ask about the disagreement resolution service
- Note the 8 week appeal deadline from the final decision letter
Documents to gather
Gather these before you ask for an ALN decision, go to a review or appeal. Tick each one off as you find it.
- Full name, date of birth and home address
- Birth certificate or passport copy
- NHS number
- Diagnosis letters and clinic appointment letters
- Your own one-page profile of your child
- GP and hospital letters
- Speech and language therapy reports
- Occupational therapy and physiotherapy reports
- Paediatric and mental health service reports
- Medication and care plan details
- School reports and progress data
- Records of the support the school gives
- Notes from meetings with the ALNCo or teacher
- Attendance and exclusion records
- Behaviour or incident logs
- Educational psychologist report
- Reports you have paid for privately
- Early years or nursery reports
- Your own written account of your child's needs
- Your letter asking for an ALN decision
- Notice that a decision is being made
- Notice of the decision and the reasons
- Draft IDP and your comments
- Final IDP with the one-page profile
- Review invitations and updated IDPs
- Letters and emails with the school
- Letters and emails with the council
- Reconsideration request and the council's reply
- Disagreement resolution service papers
- Education Tribunal for Wales appeal papers and letters
Dates and deadlines to track
- Concern raised or ALN request sent
- ALN decision due (35 school days/12 wks)
- Draft IDP received
- IDP in place
- Reconsideration request sent
- Reconsideration decision due (7 weeks)
- IDP review due (at least every 12 months)
- Appeal deadline (8 weeks, or 16 with DRS)
Use the exact dates on the letters, forms and notices you receive.
How to section your binder
What this binder is for
Case Ready is a document organisation tool for parents and carers. This edition is designed with reference to the Additional Learning Needs Code for Wales and the ALN Act 2018, using gov.wales, Education Tribunal for Wales and SNAP Cymru guidance.
- Keep reports, letters and the plan in one place
- Track every time limit and meeting
- Check the support in the plan is actually happening
What this binder is not
Case Ready:
- Does not provide legal or educational advice
- Does not tell you what to argue or what your child is entitled to
- Does not replace the advice of a specialist adviser
For free, impartial advice, speak to SNAP Cymru, which gives free advice on ALN (helpline 029 2002 8466), or your local authority's ALN team.
How the process works here
Wales uses the term additional learning needs (ALN). A school, college or council decides whether a learner has ALN and, if so, prepares an Individual Development Plan (IDP).
- Parents can ask the school to consider their child's needs and to make an ALN decision.
- The school or council must record when it was raised, name a person to coordinate and tell you.
- It must give you contact details, advice contacts and offer an initial meeting.
- Stage 1: is there a learning difficulty or disability? Stage 2: does it call for additional learning provision?
- gov.wales gives 35 school days for a school and 12 weeks for a local authority.
- If ALN is identified, an IDP is prepared on a standard template with a one-page profile.
- You should get a draft IDP to review, and can ask for changes.
A young person aged 16 or over must consent before the school or council starts the process.
The plan: your child's idp
The IDP is prepared, maintained and kept under review by a school, college or local authority, working with you, your child or the young person.
- A school or college prepares the IDP for its own learners in most cases.
- The council does it if the learner isn't at a maintained school, PRU or college, or is at more than one setting.
- A school IDP and a council IDP have the same legal standing.
- The IDP has a one-page profile of what matters to the learner and what they need.
- It sets out additional learning provision: support beyond what mainstream schools generally make.
- It should be in plain language and show what your child said separately from what others said.
Your child's and your views, wishes and feelings must be considered at all stages.
Reviews
The IDP must be reviewed at least every 12 months by the school, college or council that maintains it.
- Ask the ALNCo or school when the next review is and how to give your views.
- If you're unhappy with a school's IDP, you can ask the council to review and revise it.
- A council decision to stop maintaining an IDP can be appealed to the Education Tribunal for Wales.
Keep each review paper and each updated IDP in Section F.
If you disagree
Start with the people closest to the problem and work up. Keep a note of dates, because appeal time limits start from the final decision letter.
- Talk to the ALNCo or class teacher first, then use the school's complaints procedure.
- Ask the council to reconsider a school's ALN decision or IDP. It must reply with reasons within 7 weeks.
- Councils must offer an independent disagreement resolution service (DRS). Using it is optional.
- You can appeal to the Education Tribunal for Wales (ETW) against some council and college decisions.
- You have 8 weeks from the final decision letter. If you used DRS first, the limit is 16 weeks.
- ETW doesn't take sides. It checks the law was followed and can order a change to help or school.
- ETW freephone: 03000 259800. You can use Welsh or English.
Appealable decisions include no ALN, no IDP, an IDP you're unhappy with, ending an IDP, or the school named.
Terms used in this organiser
- ALN: additional learning needs. ALP: additional learning provision, the support that meets them.
- IDP: Individual Development Plan, the plan for a learner with ALN.
- ALNCo: the school contact for ALN. Speak to them or the class teacher first.
- Reconsideration: asking the council to look again at a school's ALN decision.
- DRS: the independent disagreement resolution service councils must provide.
- ETW: the Education Tribunal for Wales, which hears appeals.
- Case friend: someone who knows the learner well and helps with an appeal, if the Tribunal decides it's needed.
England, Scotland and Northern Ireland use different systems and have their own editions.
Who this is for and where to get help
Parents, carers, children and young people in Wales dealing with a school or council about additional learning needs. It's general information, not legal advice.
- SNAP Cymru is free for parents of children and young people aged 0 to 25 with ALN.
- SNAP Cymru gives information and casework help with IDPs, meetings and disagreements.
- SNAP Cymru helpline: 029 2002 8466. Email: enquiries@snapcymru.org.
- Councils must provide free information, advice and access to independent advocacy.
- MEIC is a free, confidential 24 hour helpline: freephone 080880 23456.
Take it one step at a time. Keep copies and note every date.
Before the review or appeal
- Latest IDP and any review notes to hand
- Reports and evidence gathered in one place
- What is working and what isn't, written down
- Your child's own views noted, in their words
- Changes you want, linked to evidence
- Questions for the meeting written down
- Decision letter date and appeal deadline noted
- SNAP Cymru contacted if you want free advice
- Correspondence Log up to date
Save time with Case Ready
Case Ready is a printable, fillable organiser for Wales: one-page profile, provision tracker, review preparation pages, reports index and a tracker workbook for Excel and Google Sheets, with your child’s details on every page. Type into it on screen or print it at home.
This binder is a general organisational aid. Rules, time limits and terms vary by country and area, and can change. Always follow the letters and decisions you receive and check current guidance. Nothing in this binder is legal advice.