SEN Needs Assessments & Education, Health and Care Plans

This how to guide sets out the steps that you can take to request that your child’s special educational needs are assessed and provided for by the local authority.

If you have exhausted all options within the local mainstream early year’s settings, schools or colleges including the new SEN support, you may decide that your child requires an Education Health and Care Needs assessment. Please note the Local Authority do not have to consider a request if the child was assessed within the previous 6 months.

This guide is designed to explain the needs assessments and Education Heath and Care plan once it is in place. 

What is an EHC Needs Assessment?

The Education Heath and Care (EHC) Needs assessment is a detailed assessment performed by the Local Authority (LA) to determine what the child’s needs are and the additional support needed in order for them to make progress in education. 

The primary aim of the assessment is to determine whether an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) is necessary. The purpose of an EHCP is to ensure that special educational provision is made available to meet the educational needs of the child or young person and to secure the best outcomes for them across education, health and social care. To achieve this, LAs use the information from the assessment to:

• establish and record the views, interests and aspirations of the parents and child or young person,
• provide a full description of the child or young person’s special educational needs and any health and social care needs,
• establish outcomes across education, health and social care based on the child or young person’s needs and aspirations,
• specify the provision required and how education, health and care services will work together to meet the child or young person’s needs and support the achievement of the agreed outcomes.

(Taken from the SEN and Disability Code of Practice 2014)

Who can make an EHC needs assessment request?

There are a number of people with a specific right to make a request for the needs assessment for a child or young person aged between 0 and 25:

• the child’s parent
• a young person over the age of 16 but under the age of 25, and
• a person acting on behalf of a school or post-16 institution with the knowledge and agreement of the parent or young person where possible.

Furthermore, other people are also able to make a request to the LA such as foster carers, health and social care professionals, early years practitioners, those responsible for education in custody, school or college staff or a family friend.

Statutory timescales for Education, Health and Care – Flowchart

Taken from page 154 SEN Code of Practice (EHC Needs Assessment Summary)

Education, Health and Care Plan Needs Assessment—the process explained

Considering an assessment

Following a request for an EHC Needs assessment the LA must determine whether an EHC Needs assessment is necessary. The LA must make a decision and communicate the decision to the child’s parent or to the young person within 6 weeks of receiving the request.

If the LA decide assessment is not appropriate

If the LA decides not to conduct an EHC needs assessment at this stage, it must inform the child’s parents or the young person in writing with reasons for not undertaking the assessment.

The LA must also inform of them of their right to challenge this decision.

Please see our How to Guide on Appeals for more information.

If the LA decide an assessment is required

Where the LA considers that a special educational provision is necessary; they must notify:

• The child’s parent or the young person, and inform them of their right to express their views and submit the relevant evidence to the LA. 
• The relevant professionals linked to education, social care and health such as the head teacher for schools or principle for post 16 institution, the relevant Integrated Care Board or NHS England if relevant and the LA officers responsible for social care for children or young person with SEN.

Where the LA chooses to progress with the needs assessment, they can request information and advice as part of the EHC needs assessment process from the people mentioned above and other relevant professions to ensure all needs under education, health and care are considered.

Those supplying the information must respond within a maximum of 6 weeks from the date the request was made.

Decision not to issue an EHCP after an assessment

Following the completion of an EHC needs assessment, if the LA decides that an EHCP is not necessary it must notify, 

• the child’s parent or the young person
• the early years provider
• school or post-16 institution currently attended, and 
• the health service.

This notification must take place at the latest within 16 weeks of when the initial request or when the child or young person was brought to the LA’s attention. 

The LA must give the reasons for its decision and inform the child’s parent or the young person of their right to challenge their decision. Please see our How to Guide on Appeals for more information.

The Upper Tribunal has recently made 2 important findings in this judgment when considering whether an EHCP is "necessary":

1. An EHCP should not be refused purely because the young person is not capable of gaining further academic qualifications or they have finished their formal education. The young person may still benefit from special educational provision, and education is to be interpreted widely.
2. The LA should look at the realities of the situation. For example, even if in theory a young person’s outcomes could be achieved through the care budget, if in reality that is not happening then an EHCP may be necessary to ensure the young person gets the special educational provision to achieve those outcomes.

If the Local Authority decide to issue an EHCP

If the LA chooses to produce an EHCP, the LA will produce a draft ECHP and must give the parent or young person 15 days to provide their views and representations on the draft EHCP. This will also give them the opportunity to name a particular school or other relevant institution.

A parent has the right to name a particular placement in the EHCP as long as it is a:

• maintained nursery school
• maintained school and any form of academy or free school (mainstream or special)
• non-maintained special school
• further education or sixth form college
• independent school or independent specialist colleges where they have been approved for this purpose by the Secretary of State and published in a list available to all parents and young people (those approved under s.41; the list can be found here)

If a child’s parent or a young person makes a request for a particular nursery, school or post-16 placement which falls into one of the above types listed above the LA must comply with that preference and name the school or college in the EHCP unless:

• it would be unsuitable for the age, ability, aptitude or SEN of the child or young person, or
• the attendance of the child or young person there would be incompatible with the efficient education of others, or the efficient use of resources

Parents can request a type of school which is not one of the types named above but the LA does not have the same duty to name the school in the EHCP. The LA can still consult with the school and can choose to name it if this is felt to be suitable; however, they will consider whether the school:

• is willing to offer a place to the child (as the school is not obliged to offer a place simply from being named in the EHCP)
• is compatible with the provision of efficient instruction and training for the child
•  does not require an unreasonable use of public expenditure

The LA should also seek the agreement of any Personal Budget information specified within the draft EHCP. Please see our page on Direct Payments for more information.

Between issuing a draft plan and a final plan the only changes that can be made are those that are the result of any representations made by the child’s parent or young person and the school to be named in the plan. The LA cannot make any other changes to the plan without first re-issuing the draft plan.

If the parent or young person request some changes and the LA does not agree, the LA may still choose to proceed to issue a final plan. However, parents and the young person must be notified of this decision and informed of their right to challenge it.

The LA should also inform the child’s parent or the young person how they can appeal the health and social care provision in the EHCP where applicable.

Education Health and Care Plan

The format of an EHCP will vary with different LAs and can be agreed locally. However, as a statutory minimum, EHCPs must include the following sections:

Section A: The views, interests and aspirations of the child and his or her parents or the young person. This does include the history of the child or young person and how to communicate with the child

Section B: The child or young person’s special educational needs and this may also include the health and social care provision. 

Section C: The child or young person’s health needs which are related to their SEN.

Section D: The child or young person’s social care needs which are related to their SEN or to a disability.

Section E: The outcomes sought for the child or the young person. This should include outcomes for adult life. The EHC plan should also identify the arrangements for the setting of shorter term targets by the early years provider, school, college or other education or training provider.

Section F: The special educational provision required by the child or the young person.

Section G: Any health provision reasonably required by the learning difficulties or disabilities which result in the child or young person having SEN. Where an Individual Health Care Plan is made for them, that plan should be included.

Section H1: Any social care provision which must be made for a child or young person under 18 resulting from section 2 of the Chronically Sick and Disabled Persons Act 1970.

Section H2: Any other social care provision reasonably required by the learning difficulties or disabilities which result in the child or young person having SEN. This will include any adult social care provision being provided to meet a young person’s eligible needs (through a statutory care and support plan) under the Care Act 2014.

Section I: The name and type of the school, maintained nursery school, post-16 institution or other institution to be attended by the child or young person and the type of that institution (or, where the name of a school or other institution is not specified in the EHC plan, the type of school or other institution to be attended by the child or young person).

Section J: Where there is a Personal Budget, the details of how the personal budget will support particular outcomes, the provision it will be used for including any flexibility in its usage and the arrangements for any direct payments for education, health and social care. The special educational needs and outcomes that are to be met by any direct payment must be specified.

Section K: The advice and information gathered during the EHC needs assessment must be attached (in appendices). There should be a list of this advice and information

In addition, where the child or young person is in or beyond year 9, the EHC plan must include (in sections F, G, H1 or H2 as appropriate) the provision required by the child or young person to assist in preparation for adulthood and independent living, for example, support for finding employment, housing or for participation in society.

(Taken from the SEN and Disability Code of Practice 2015)

Reviewing an EHCP

EHC plans must be reviewed by the LA at least every 12 months. The LA can consider reviewing an EHCP for children under the age of five at least every three to six months to ensure the provision available is still appropriate.

The first review must be held within 12 months of the date when the EHCP was issued, and then within 12 months of any previous review.

The primary aim of the reviews is to focus on the child or young person’s progress towards achieving the outcomes specified within the plan.

After the review meeting, the LA’s decision must be notified to the child’s parent or the young person within 4 weeks of the meeting. Professionals across education, health and care must work together during this process.

The review of the EHC plan should include the review of any existing Personal Budget arrangements. 

For Looked After Children the annual review should, if possible, coincide with one of the reviews in their Care Plan and in particular the Personal Education Plan (PEP) part of the Care Plan.

Transfer

Where a child or young person moves to another LA, the previous LA must transfer the EHCP to the new LA on the day of the move. The exception to this is where the previous LA has not been provided with 15 working days notice of the move; the previous LA must then transfer the EHCP within 15 working days beginning with the day on which it did become aware of the move taking place.

Upon the transfer of the EHCP, the new LA becomes responsible for maintaining the plan and for securing the special educational provision specified in it.

The new LA must inform the parent or the young person, within 6 weeks of the date of transfer, when the next review of the plan is to take place and whether an EHC needs assessment is necessary. 

The new LA must review the plan before one of the following deadlines, whichever comes later

• Within 12 months of the plan being made or being previously reviewed by the old authority, or
• Within 3 months of the plan being transferred.

The requirement for the child or young person to attend the educational institution specified in the EHCP continues after the transfer. However, where attendance would be impractical (for example, where the child or young person could not be expected to travel the distance between their new home and their old school), the new LA must place the child or young person temporarily at an appropriate educational institution other than that specified until the EHCP is formally amended.

Reassessment

The LA must conduct a re-assessment of a child or young person’s EHCP if a request is made by:

• the parent or the young person, 
• the governing body
• proprietor or principal of the educational institution attended by the child or young person
• the CCG (or NHS England where relevant).

The process for re-assessment will be the same as the process for a first assessment with the same time-scales and rights to challenge a decision. 

The general maximum time scale set out for a re-assessment is 14 weeks from the decision to re-assess to finalising and issuing the EHCP.

After the re-assessment, the EHCP must be reviewed within 12 months of the date it was issued and sent to the child’s parent or the young person. It would then be reviewed every twelve month thereafter.

Amending an EHCP

If the LA proposes to change the EHCP, it must send to the parent or young person a copy of the original non amended plan with a notice of the proposed amendments with copies of the relevant evidence to support the changes. 

The parent or the young person should be informed and given 15 days to present their views and representations on the proposed changes. They may request a meeting with the LA to discuss this in depth. 

Following the representations and views on the new changes, the LA can decide to continue and amend the plan and issue the new plan within 8 weeks of the original amendment notice. 

When sending the final amended EHCP, the LA must notify the child’s parent or the young person of their right challenge the decision through the general appeals process. 

Ceasing an EHCP

The LA may cease to maintain an EHCP:

• When the aims and outcomes are accomplished or at the end of the academic year the young person reaches 25,
• Where the LA is no longer responsible for the child or young person e.g. the child or young person move to another LA, young person enters higher education or leaves education to take up paid employment.

Where a LA is considering such a decision, it must:

• inform and consult the parent or the young person that it is considering this,
• consult the school or other institution that is named in the plan.

The LA must also notify the child’s parent or the young person of their right to challenge this decision through the general appeals process. 

If the parent or young person chooses to challenge the decision, the LA must continue to maintain the ECHP until the time has passed for bringing an appeal or, if an appeal has been lodged and registered, until it has been concluded.