An education, health and care (EHC) needs assessment is the first step to getting an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP).
It is a process where a variety of professionals assess your child’s special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).
At the end of the process, each of these professionals will have drafted a report on your child or young person’s SEND. This should give us a better understanding of what support they may require, including whether they need an ENCP.
How long the process takes
The whole EHC process, from the date you first request an EHC needs assessment, to the date a plan must be finalised and issued, must take place within 20 weeks. This includes weekends and bank holidays but does not include the school summer holiday.
Once an assessment has been requested, we have up to six weeks from the date of submission to decide whether to carry out an assessment or not.
See: EHC needs assessment timeline
How to request an EHC needs assessment
An EHC needs assessment is usually requested by a special educational needs co-ordinator (SENCO) at your child or young person’s education setting.
If your child or young person is under 16 years old, this will only be done after their parent or carer has given permission.
If your child is over 16 years old, they will need to give permission themselves.
The people who can request an EHC needs assessment are:
- the parent or carer of a child (or young person who does not have mental capacity)
- a young person aged between 16 and 24 years
- a person acting on behalf of an education setting with prior agreement from the parent or young person, where possible
- others, such as healthcare professionals or social workers
A request can be made at any time from birth to the age of 24 years, if the young person is still in education or training and not in full-time employment.
To make a request for a needs assessment as a parent or young person, you need to:
- complete the EHC needs assessment request form
- email it to the SEND team at: SEN@hounslow.gov.uk (using the subject line 'Statutory request for an EHC needs assessment')
What happens in an assessment
During the assessment, we'll ask for your opinions about what you think your child or young person will need to progress in an educational setting and achieve their goals. We will ask your child the same things.
If you are a young person over the age of 16, you can have your say during an assessment. Your parent or carer can still share their opinion but yours will be most important.
If you are a parent or carer and your young person does not have the ability to make decisions on their own, you will be able to do this on their behalf [link to mental capacity section].
We will give you information on independent information, advice and support to help you understand the process. We want to make sure you and your child are properly involved in the decisions that affect your child or young person.
During the assessment process, we will get information from any professionals that will help make sure all the child or young person's needs are recognised. These may include:
- a professional in education (usually the SENCO or class teacher)
- a health professional (usually a paediatric specialist)
- an educational psychologist (EP)
- a speech and language therapist (SaLT)
- an occupational therapist (OT)
- anyone involved in preparing the young person for adulthood (where appropriate)
- any other person you might request we get information from (within reason)
How we review requests
We review all requests for EHC needs assessments at a multi-disciplinary panel (sometimes called "panel") that meets every week.
The panel is made up of several professionals from different assessment areas. It may include:
- educational psychologists
- speech and language therapists
- occupational therapists
- community paediatricians
- SEN advisory teachers
- social workers
- headteachers
- EHC officers
The panel always includes a senior council officer, who has authority to make the decisions which the panel agrees on. This is usually a member of the senior SEND team.
We will advise you whether we have decided to carry out an EHC needs assessment within six weeks of the request.
If we decide not to conduct a needs assessment, we will send you a letter that:
- explains our decision
- offers you an opportunity to attend a 'next step' meeting
- provides advice and guidance on how your child can be supported without an EHCP
- explains your the legal right to appeal our decision
