How to request an Education, Health and Care (EHC) needs assessment

If you have concerns about your child’s special educational needs or disability needs, you should contact their early years setting, school or college. You should speak to the class teacher, tutor, Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator (SENCO), head teacher or key worker.

The school or setting should discuss your concerns with you and agree what needs to happen next. This may involve the school or setting carrying out their own assessments of your child’s needs or requesting advice from other professionals.

A plan, such as an special educational needs (SEN) support plan, will be put in place to state the:

  • outcomes that need to be achieved
  • provision needed to enable your child to achieve the outcomes

A review will then be held to see if this has helped your child to make progress. If progress has not been made or if it's very slow, the school or setting may arrange a meeting with you and other agencies working with your child to discuss whether a request should be made to the local authority for an Education, Health and Care (EHC) needs assessment.

Applications made by your child's school, setting or another professional

Your child’s school, setting or another professional can arrange to make a request for an EHC needs assessment on your behalf.

In line with Stockport’s Co-Production Charter, it's expected that the school or setting will work with you to regularly review and discuss the progress that your child is making towards the outcomes in the SEN support plan. This should follow the graduated response ‘assess, plan, do, review' model. At the review meetings, there may be discussions about whether an EHC needs assessment should be be made.

If it's decided that an EHC needs assessment is needed, the school, setting or another professional will complete an application form. They should also provide:

  • a copy of your child’s SEN support plan
  • a copy of the child or young person's views. This is often referred to as a one page profile
  • a copy of the current provision map
  • a copy of an anticipatory provision map, where possible
  • any other reports

Applying in your own right

A parent, carer or young person themselves, aged over 16, can make an application for an EHC needs assessment in their own right.

You'll need to tell us about:

  • the long term goals and aspirations of the child or young person
  • the progress that has been made towards achieving these goals and aspirations
  • what you feel is needed to achieve these goals and aspirations now and in the future

Request an EHC needs assessment

If you need support to apply in your own right

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