Request for a statutory EHC assessment
Information to support you with education, health and care plan process.
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How to request a statutory EHC assessment
If you wish to request a statutory EHC assessment on behalf of your child or young person, you can submit a request online. It is recommended that you discuss the request with the school, college or setting before making the online request.
When you submit the online form you will receive a reference number, please make note of this number. The online form is received by Special Education Service (SES) on submission.
The process takes up to 20 weeks to be completed. View more information about the EHC statutory assessment process timescale.
Who can request a statutory assessment
A request for a statutory assessment for a child or young person can be made by:
- The child’s parents or carers
- A young person over the age of 16 but under the age of 25
- A young person in a youth custodial establishment
- The school or college which the child or young person attends (ideally with the knowledge and agreement of the parent or young person where possible)
In addition, anyone else can bring a child or young person who has (or may have) special educational needs to the attention of the Local Authority. This could include:
- Foster carers
- Health and social care professionals
- Early years practitioners
- Youth offending teams, probation services
- A family friend
After making a request for an EHC assessment
When you ask for an EHC assessment the local authority Special Education Service will ask professionals if they know your child and to provide supportive information. These are the people who the local authority will ask:
- You and your child
- School, college or setting attended by your child
- Health service
- Psychology service
- Social care services and others who provide social support to your child, such as Early Help and Short breaks
Where the request is made by a parent, carer or by a young person or a non-school based professional, the Education Health and Care Inclusion Officer in the Special Education Service may request further information from the school or setting which the child or young person attends or, for a child or young person not in a school or setting, from professionals who know the child or young person.
Within six weeks of the date of the original request, the local authority will need to consider the request (and further information, where relevant) to determine whether this meets the criteria for a statutory assessment. This decision is taken at a weekly meeting held by the Special Education Service. The Education Health and Care Inclusion Officer will write to the parents, carers or young person and others who they notified informing them of this decision.