Request for an EHC needs assessment

In England, a parent can ask the local authority Local authority Your local council. In England, Wales and Scotland, this is the body you ask to assess what extra help your child needs. Read the full definition of Local authority directly for an education, health and care needs assessment. You do not have to wait for the school to do it, and the school cannot veto it. The council then has six weeks to decide whether it will assess, and it must tell you its decision.

The legal test at this stage is low: the council must assess where a child may have special educational needs SEND SEND is England's word for children who need extra help to learn. The rest of the UK uses other words, and other rules. Read the full definition of SEND and may need provision through an EHC plan EHCP A legal document, used in England, that sets out a child's needs and the support they must get. It is for children who need more help than their school can give on its own. Read the full definition of EHCP . The word may matters, because parents are often told their child is not far enough behind, and that is not the test. If the council refuses to assess, the refusal comes with a right of appeal, and many of these appeals succeed.

A short letter is enough: who your child is, what the difficulties are, what has been tried, and that you are requesting an EHC needs assessment EHC needs assessment The process, in England, where the local authority looks in detail at your child's needs and decides whether to write an EHCP. You can ask for one yourself. Read the full definition of EHC needs assessment under section 36 of the Children and Families Act 2014.