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Education, Health & Care: Needs Assessment

About the EHC Needs Assessment?

As part of an EHC Needs Assessment, the Local Authority is required to seek input from all of the following (as a minimum):

  • You and your child
  • Educational advice (usually from the SENCO or class teacher);
  • Medical advice and information from a health care professional;
  • Psychological advice and information from an educational psychologist;
  • Advice and information in relation to social care;
  • Where the child or young person is in or beyond year 9, advice and information in relation to preparing for adulthood; and
  • Advice and information from any person that you reasonably request the Council to seek advice from.
Any existing evidence for example, private reports from professionals, submitted by parents must also be considered.

In exceptional cases, despite the school having taken relevant and purposeful action through the graduated approach, a pupil may not have made the expected progress in one or more of the four headline areas of SEN.

The four Special Educational Needs headline areas are:

  • Cognition & Learning
  • Communication & Interaction
  • Social, Emotional and Mental Health
  • Physical and/or Sensory (including Hearing and/or Visual Impairment).

If there is evidence that a pupil may have an SEN, the school, or you, may consider requesting an EHC Needs Assessment. This should be in exceptional circumstances and should never be the first response to meeting a pupil’s needs.


For Further Information on EHC Needs Assessments: Check out these Sites!
IPSEA: For General information
Click here to visit the IPSEA website.

NHS - For Social Care and Health Assessment information
Click here to visit the NHS website.

Who can request an EHC Needs Assessment?

In most cases, the SENCO from your Child’s childcare setting, school or college will request an EHC Needs Assessment with prior agreement from the Parent Carer, or from the Young Person directly if over 16-years old.

The list of people who can request an EHC Needs Assessment include:
• A Child or Young Person’s Parent Carer
• A Young Person aged 16 – 24
• A person acting on behalf of a school or post-16 institution (with the knowledge and agreement of the parent or young person where possible)
• Others such as Health can bring a child to the Council’s attention.

A request can be made at any time from birth to the age of 24 if the Young Person is still in education or training and not in full-time employment. To make a request for an Assessment yourself, Contact the EHC Assessment & Review Team.

When do we decide to conduct an EHC Needs Assessment?

We will initiate an EHC Needs Assessment when we consider that it may be necessary for Special Educational Provision to be made for a pupil through an EHC Plan. This is likely to be when the Special Educational Provision that is required cannot be reasonably provided within the resources normally available to mainstream education settings.

The EHC Needs Assessment brings together all existing relevant information about your child or young person from education, health and social care. If further assessments are required, an EHC Case Officer (from the council) is assigned to the family and will arrange for this to happen. They will work with you throughout the whole process.

How long does an Assessment take?

The Assessment process should take a maximum of 20 weeks. The diagram in The Full EHC Timeline explains the process in more detail. Please note that even when an assessment is carried out, it does not always result in an EHC Plan being issued.

What if my Assessment Request is declined?

If the request is declined, this is usually because the information provided suggests that a Young Person’s needs could be met at SEN Support level, which is why it is so important to ensure that the Local Authority (LA) has accurate information about both the support that is needed and also the type & amount of support that is currently in place.

If your EHC Needs Request application is declined, or the LA does not issue an EHC Plan following an EHC Needs Assessment, you can appeal the decision to the SEND Tribunal Service (SENDIST). More information regarding the appeals process can be found on our page: Mediations & Appeals.