The Education, Health and Care (EHC) needs assessment process

An Education, Health and Care (EHC) needs assessment is an assessment of the education, health care and social care needs of the child or young person.

We want you to be as involved as possible in the decision making process. We want to make sure that your child is able to enjoy good health and wellbeing and feel:

  • safe
  • that their voice is heard and acted upon
  • happy and have people that they trust around them
  • confident and able to achieve their goals
  • part of the community

The assessment process should take no longer than 20 weeks and is broken down into the following stages:

Week 1: a request for an EHC needs assessment is made

The request for an EHC needs assessment is received. We'll contact you to let you know what will happen next. If you have any information that you think we need, you should provide this as soon as possible so that it can be shared with our decision making panel.

Weeks 1 to 6: we'll make a decision about whether or not an EHC needs assessment is needed

A panel of representatives from education, health and social care teams will look at all of the information that's been provided and decide if an EHC needs assessment is needed or not. The panel members will consider:

  • evidence provided about the child or young person’s academic attainment, or developmental milestones in younger children and their rate of progress
  • information about the nature, extent and context of the child or young person’s Special Educational Needs (SEN)
  • evidence of the action that has already been taken by the early years provider, school or post-16 institution to meet the child or young person’s SEN
  • evidence that where progress has been made, it has only been as the result of additional intervention and support over and above that which is usually provided
  • evidence of the child or young person’s physical, emotional and social development and health needs. This includes relevant evidence from clinicians and other health professionals and what has been done by other agencies to meet the child or young person's needs

If the young person is aged over 18, the panel will also consider whether they need additional time to complete their education or training, compared to the majority of young people of the same age who do not have SEN.

We'll contact you to let you know the panel's decision.

If an assessment is agreed

We'll ask you for your views and let you know who we're requesting advice from.

If an assessment is not agreed

We'll let you know the reasons and offer to meet with you to talk about what happens next.

Weeks 6 to 12: we'll request and receive advice

We'll contact professionals who have been involved and ask them for advice about the:

  • child or young person's needs
  • provision required to meet the child or young person's needs
  • outcomes that are expected to be achieved by the child or young person

The advice that we request may include:

  • educational advice from the head teacher or principal
  • medical advice and information from an educational psychologist
  • advice and information about social care
  • advice and information from any other person that the local authority thinks appropriate
  • advice and information from any other person that the child or young person's parents reasonably requests that the local authority should ask for advice from

We will not ask for new advice if advice has previously been provided or there are existing reports, for example, if there is already a recent report from an educational psychologist. Previous advice can only be used if it is:

  • up to date and accurately reflects the child or young person's current needs
  • agreed by the local authority, the child's parents and the young person that it can be used

We'll let you know if:

  • there are any exemptions that will delay the assessment being completed on time
  • if any advice is going to be late or has not been received

Weeks 13 to 16: after the advice has been received

A panel of representatives from education, health and social care teams will look at all of the information that's been provided and decide if an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) is needed or not.

If an EHCP is agreed, we'll let you know and we'll issue a draft EHCP.

If and EHCP is not agreed, we'll let you know the reasons why.

Week 16: we'll send you a draft EHCP

We'll send you a draft EHCP. We'll ask you to:

  • read the plan and respond within 15 days
  • let us know which early years setting, school or college you'd like us to name in the EHCP

We'll consider any changes that you'd like to make to the plan. We'll also meet with the early years setting, school or college that you've named. If you'd like to, we can meet with you to talk about the draft EHCP.

Weeks 18 to 20: we'll send you a final EHCP

We'll send you a copy of the final EHCP.