How to ask for an EHC needs assessment

The legal test

Under section 36(8) of the Children and Families Act 2014, the council must carry out an assessment if:

1. your child has or may have special educational needs, and
2. it may be necessary for special educational provision to be made through an EHC plan.

It's about what may be the case. You don't have to prove your child needs a plan. That's what the assessment is for.

Things councils sometimes say that aren't legal requirements

• "Your child needs a diagnosis first." No. The test is about needs, not labels.
• "The school has to apply, not you." No. Parents, young people over 16 and schools can all ask.
• "School must spend £6,000 first" or "you need two cycles of assess–plan–do–review". These may appear in local guidance, but they aren't in the law. The question is still the section 36(8) test.
• "Your child is making some progress." Progress can still be a reason to assess if it's only happening because of extra support, or is far slower than expected.
• "They're fine at school." Many children (especially autistic children, and those who have experienced trauma) hold it together at school and fall apart at home. Describe both.

What to include

• Your child's difficulties, with real, recent examples: learning, communication, social and emotional, sensory, physical.
• What school has already tried, for how long, and what happened.
• Any reports you have (school reports, educational psychologist, speech and language, OT, CAMHS, paediatrician). Reports are helpful but not required.
• A request to confirm the date the letter was received. The deadline runs from that date.

What happens next: the timeline

• Within 6 weeks the council must tell you whether it will assess.
• If yes, it gathers advice from education, health, social care and an educational psychologist, and must take your views into account.
• Within 16 weeks of your request it must tell you whether it will issue a plan.
• If it issues a draft plan, you have 15 days to comment and to ask for a particular school.
• Within 20 weeks of your request the final plan should be issued.

Our deadline checker works out each of these dates for you.

If the council says no

You can appeal a refusal to assess to the SEND Tribunal. You'll first need a mediation certificate (you only have to get advice about mediation, not go through with it). The deadline is 2 months from the decision letter, or 1 month from the mediation certificate if that's later. See our EHCP appeal guide.

Your letter

Send it by email so you have a dated record, and keep a copy. Sources: Children and Families Act 2014, s.36; SEND Regulations 2014, regs 3–13; SEND Code of Practice 2015, chapter 9.