What happens in an Education, Health and Care (EHC) assessment

Proposal to assess

As soon as we receive a request for an Education, Health and Care (EHC) assessment we will contact you via the EHC Hub explaining what the assessment will involve. We will give you the name of a person in the SEN Service who can help you. This person is called the Named Officer.

You will be able to comment on the request for an EHC assessment. Within six weeks we will decide whether to proceed with the assessment. We will contact to you to let you know our decision and the reasons for it.

How long an EHC assessment takes

It is best for your child that we assess their needs thoroughly and quickly. This will make sure that we can meet their needs as soon as possible.

The whole process, from proposing to make an assessment to the sending of a final Education Health and Care Plan (if one is agreed) should take no longer than 20 weeks. You can help by replying quickly whenever you are contacted.

There are some exceptions to this timetable, when the process will take longer than 20 weeks. If it seems that this is likely, we will tell you the reason for the delay.

What happens during an EHC assessment

We ask a range of professionals to tell us what they know about your child and to carry out their own assessments. It may mean that they visit your child at home or at their education setting. You can attend any examination or assessment of your child.

These people could be:

• early years setting, school or college (headteacher/principal, SENCo and teachers)
• health care professional
• educational psychologist
• social worker
• any other relevant people. These could be a specialist teacher adviser, speech and language therapist, physiotherapist, occupational therapist etc.

They will write reports based on their assessment and provide their advice in the EHC Hub. You will be able to see their advice in the EHC Hub

We will also ask you as parent or carer to provide your own views and comments. If it's appropriate, we will ask for your child to submit their views too. You can also include any independent written advice you have got.

What if we decide not to issue an EHC plan?

After the assessment, we may decide that your child’s needs can continue to be met at the SEN Support stage without the need for an EHCP. You will continue to be able to access all the advice and reports in the EHC Hub. You can share those with professionals as necessary, to continue your child's support.

We will explain to you in detail the reasons for our decision. If you disagree with the decisions, you can follow the next steps for continuing to work with us to resolve your concerns.