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EHC needs assessment

The council's detailed assessment to decide whether a child needs an EHC plan.

Parents, young people and schools can ask for one. The council must decide within 6 weeks whether to assess, and the whole process to a final plan should take no more than 20 weeks.

The legal test is whether the child may have SEN and may need provision through a plan (section 36(8), Children and Families Act 2014).

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General information for families in England, not legal advice.