EHC needs assessments

12 mins read

This advice applies in England only. Read information for families in Northern Ireland, Scotland or Wales.

Education, health and care (EHC) needs assessments are the first step in deciding whether a child or young person requires an EHC plan and what support to include within it.

What is an EHC needs assessment?

An education, health and care (EHC) needs assessment is the first step towards getting an EHC plan. An EHC plan is a legal document that sets out the needs and support of children who require more help than a school, nursery or college can provide from its own resources.

The EHC needs assessment is a legal process carried out by the local authority. The local authority gathers information about your child’s needs from you, your child, their education setting and relevant professionals. It uses this information to decide whether your child needs an EHC plan and, if so, what support they need.

When might I ask for an assessment?

Most children with special educational needs (SEN) get the help they need at nursery, school or college through a system called SEN support. Their support is set out in a SEN support plan.

If you think this support is not enough to meet your child’s needs, you might think about requesting an EHC needs assessment.

You can request an assessment at any time. You don’t need to wait until your child has fallen far behind academically. Your child does not need to have a medical diagnosis.

Who can request an assessment?

The following people can make a formal request to the local authority for an EHC needs assessment:

A parent.
A school or college.
The young person themselves, if aged 16-24.

If you make a parental request, you can inform the nursery, school or college you have done so, as the local authority will contact them.

Local authority’s decision to assess

It’s important to be aware that making a request for an EHC assessment does not guarantee that your child will get one.

The local authority must consider two questions when deciding whether to carry out an EHC needs assessment:

Does the child or young person have, or may they have, SEN?
May it be necessary for special educational provision to be made through an EHC plan?

The local authority must carry out an EHC needs assessment if the answer to both questions is yes. This is the legal test set out in section 36(8) of the Children and Families Act 2014. The local authority must apply this same legal test no matter who has made the assessment request.

Does my child have, or may they have, SEN?

Your child has SEN if they have a learning difficulty or disability that means they need special educational provision.

What is special educational provision?

Special educational provision is education or training that is additional to, or different from, what is generally available to others of the same age. For a child under two, it means educational provision of any kind.

Your child may get special educational provision through SEN support. The second part of the legal test asks whether they may need to get provision through an EHC plan instead.

What will the local authority consider?

The local authority should consider whether there is evidence that despite the nursery, school or college having taken relevant and purposeful action to identify, assess and meet the special educational needs of your child, they have not made expected progress. 

The Code says local authorities should pay particular attention to evidence and information about:

Your child’s attainment and rate of progress (or developmental milestones for younger children).
The nature, extent and context of their SEN.
The support their nursery, school or college has already provided.
Whether any progress that has been made has depended on significant additional support beyond that which is usually available for children of the same age
Your child’s physical, emotional and social development and health needs, including relevant evidence from health professionals and what other agencies have done to meet these.

These factors are set out in paragraph 9.14 of the SEND Code of Practice.

While these help the local authority make its decision, they are not additional legal tests. The local authority must still apply the two-part legal test in section 36(8) of the Children and Families Act, which we explained above.

Requesting an assessment

Most local authorities ask families to complete an online form to request an EHC needs assessment. You can check your local authority’s website to find out how to make a request. If your local authority does not have an online form, you can use our template letter [.docx] to help write your request.

We recommend following your local authority’s process where possible. This can help to make sure they have the information they need to consider your request. If you do find the form difficult to fill in, contact ou r helpline. We can provide information and may be able to put you in touch with a service who can help you complete the form.

What should I include in my request?

You’ll need to explain why you think your child has, or may have, SEN. Then you’ll need to explain why they need special educational provision to be made through an EHC plan.

Include information about:

Your child’s SEN.
How their needs affect their learning and participation.
The support they currently receive and what has already been tried.
The progress they’ve made, including any that has depended on significant additional support.
Their physical, emotional, social and health needs.
The additional or different support you believe they need.
Your child’s views, wishes and feelings.

Give examples where you can, such as lessons, activities or times of the day your child finds difficult and what happens. Our parent advisers have created a checklist to help you – see below.

A mother and daughter standing in front of a fairground carousel

Writing about your child – a checklist to help for EHC needs assessments

If you are requesting an Education, Health and Care (EHC) needs assessment, or providing further information as part of the assessment itself,…

Evidence you can send with your request

Send copies of any evidence you have that explains your child’s needs, current support, and further support they may require.

This could include:

Nursery, school or college reports.
SEN support plans.
Records of the support already provided.
Information about your child’s progress.
Attendance records.
Examples of your child’s work.
Records of behaviour or incidents.
Letters or reports from professionals. This can include speech and language therapists, educational psychologists, occupational therapists and diagnosis letters (if you have them).
Your child’s views, wishes and feelings.
Your own observations, such as a home diary.

You can ask your child’s nursery, school or college to give you a copy of the information they hold before you make your request.

Where should I send it?

Send your request to the local authority where your child normally lives. Do this even if they attend a nursery, school or college in another area.

You can use the government’s local authority finder to find your local authority’s contact details.

Keep copies of your request

Send copies of documents rather than the originals and keep:

A copy of your request.
Copies of all the evidence you send.
A note of the date the local authority receives your request.

The six-week deadline

The local authority should confirm that it has received your request. Within six weeks of this date, it must tell you whether it will carry out an EHC needs assessment.

The local authority must write directly to you, even if your child’s school or college made the request.

If the local authority does not respond in time, ask when you will receive a decision. You can make a formal complaint to the local authority if the delay continues.

After considering your request, the local authority will either refuse to assess your child or agree to carry out an assessment.

If the local authority refuses to assess

The local authority can decide not to carry out an EHC needs assessment if it does not think your child meets the legal test. This is known as a “refusal to assess”.

The local authority must write to you, within six weeks of receiving your request, and explain why it has made this decision. The letter must also tell you:

How to appeal the decision.
The deadline for appealing.
How to contact a mediation adviser.
About disagreement resolution services.
Where to get independent information, advice and support.

Appealing a refusal to assess

You can appeal a refusal to assess decision to the SEND Tribunal.

Before you appeal, you must contact an independent mediation adviser and get a mediation certificate. You do not have to take part in mediation to get this certificate.

You must lodge your appeal to the SEND Tribunal within whichever is later of:

Two months of the date on your decision later.
One month from the date of the mediation certificate.

For more information, read our webpage on tribunal appeals.

During an assessment

If the local authority decides to assess your child, it will gather information about your child’s needs from:

You and your child.
Your child’s nursery, school or college.
An educational psychologist.
Specialist teachers, if your child has a vision or hearing impairment.
Health and social care services.
Anyone else you or your child reasonably asks the local authority to contact. For example, an autism specialist or a youth worker who knows your child well.
Professionals who can advise on preparing for adulthood if your child is in year 9 or above, for example a representative from a post-16 setting.

Social care needs

As part of the assessment, the local authority has a responsibility to also gather information about your child’s social care needs.

If your family is not already getting support from children’s services, you can ask these services to do a separate assessment to decide if you or your child need support at home or in the community. For more information see our webpages on social care.

Your involvement

The local authority must help your family, including your child, to take part in the EHC needs assessment process. It must provide you with any information, advice and support you need to be involved.

You do not need to share information you submitted when requesting the assessment again. You can, however, send in new information if you want to.

You can also ask the local authority to seek information about your child from someone who has not been contacted before. For example, you may want to ask whether a speech and language therapist can assess your child.

After the assessment

After the EHC needs assessment, the local authority will either issue an EHC plan or decide not to issue one. It must inform you of its decision within 16 weeks of receiving the EHC needs assessment request.

If the local authority decides to give (issue) your child an EHC plan, it will send you a draft EHC plan to comment on. You will have 15 days to put forward your views about the contents of the draft.

The final plan must be issued within a maximum of 20 weeks from the date of the EHC needs assessment request.

For more information and guidance, read our webpage getting your draft plan.

If the local authority refuses to issue an EHC plan

An EHC needs assessment does not always lead to an EHC plan. For example, the local authority may decide your child’s needs can be met through SEN support. This is known as a “refusal to issue” an EHC plan.

The local authority must write to you, within 16 weeks of the initial request, explaining why it has decided not to issue an EHC plan. The letter must tell you about:

How to appeal the decision.
The time limits for appealing.
The requirement to consider mediation.
About disagreement resolution services.
Where to get information, advice and support.

Appealing a refusal to issue

If you think the decision is wrong, you can appeal a “refusal to issue” to the SEND Tribunal.

Before you appeal, you must contact an independent mediation adviser and get a mediation certificate. You do not have to take part in mediation to get this certificate.

You must lodge your appeal within whichever is later of:

Two months of the date on your decision letter.
One month from the date of the mediation certificate.

For more information, read our webpage on tribunal appeals.

Where can I find more information?

You can find more information about EHC needs assessments in:

Our factsheet on EHC needs assessments.
Our checklist for EHC needs assessments.
Section 36 of the Children and Families Act – the law about EHC needs assessments and the legal test.
Chapter 9 of the SEND Code of Practice – statutory guidance on EHC needs assessments. See the SEND Code of Practice: 0 to 25 years in England. [PDF].

Get individual advice

Our parent advisers can help with any questions you have about your child’s SEN support. You can call our free helpline, email us via our web form or contact us using Charlie, our chatbot, on our website.

Local Information, Advice and Support Services (IASS)

You can also contact your local Special Educational Needs and Disabilities Information, Advice and Support Services (SENDIAS). Every local authority must provide this impartial service. You can find details of your local service on our webpage Local advice and support organisations.

Related information

Parent guides and factsheets

Factsheet: Education, health and care needs assessments

Download now

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Extra help at school

If your child has special educational needs (SEN), their school can provide extra help through a system called SEN support.

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What to do if you disagree with a decision made by the local authority relating to your child’s special educational needs.

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