Skip to main content See a section of your child's parental views free. No card, no signup. Try now →
When a school requests an EHC needs assessment, councils say yes to around 3 in 4. When a parent asks, it is fewer than half (DfE, 2025 data). Same request, different language.
📚 Free EHCP guides for every step · Written for the law as it stands in 2026
🇬🇧 EHC Needs Assessment Help for Parents in England

Get your child the school support
the law says they deserve

When parents request an EHC needs assessment themselves, refusals are far more common than when schools ask. Not because the children are different, but because the request is written differently. EHCPhelp turns your child's real difficulties into the formal language councils respond to.

6 weeks
Legal Deadline for a Decision
No diagnosis
Needed to Request One
99%
Of Decided Tribunal Appeals Go the Parent's Way
Built on the LawChildren and Families Act 2014 and the SEND Code
100% ConfidentialNo date of birth, no address, nothing stored
Only Your Child's Real StoryWe never invent or exaggerate difficulties
Try Free FirstSee a real section, no payment

Already been refused? Paste the council's letter into our free Refusal Letter Analyser and see which of their reasons do not hold up in law - no signup needed.

How EHCPhelp works

Three simple steps from your child's story to a complete request pack.

1

Tell us about your child

Describe the real difficulties in your own words: lessons, friendships, mornings, home. No jargon needed.

2

Get your document pack

Your words become a formal request letter, parental views and evidence checklist, framed around the legal test councils must apply.

3

Send and start the clock

Email or post it to your local authority. From that day they have 6 weeks to decide, and your timeline shows exactly what happens next.

FREE - NO PAYMENT REQUIRED

Try It Free - See What EHCPhelp Writes For Your Child

See a real section of the parental views document from our Request Pack, built from what you tell us. No signup, no payment.

💡 Tip: numbers beat adjectives. "2 or 3 mornings a week" carries far more weight than "often".
No spam - occasional EHCP guidance only. Unsubscribe anytime. Privacy
THIS IS YOUR REQUEST PACK

Your child's story. In the language the SEN team expects.

You describe what happens at school and at home. We turn it into 5 formal documents. Here is one section of the parental views.

🔒ehcphelp.co.uk/documents/parental-views
Document 2 of 5 - Parental Views

Social, emotional and mental health

Code of Practice area Every number preserved as evidence
💬 WHAT YOU TOLD US

"He refuses to go to school 2 or 3 mornings a week, cries and hides. After school he explodes at home almost every day. He started saying he hates himself and that he is stupid. Attendance is 84% and getting worse."

🇬🇧 READY TO SEND TO YOUR COUNCIL
📋 COPY
"Jake experiences significant anxiety around school attendance. On 2 or 3 mornings each week he refuses to leave the house, crying and hiding, and his attendance has fallen to 84% this year and continues to decline. This pattern is consistent with emotionally based school avoidance. The effort of managing the school day is also visible at home. On almost every school day Jake becomes dysregulated after school. He has recently begun making negative statements about himself, saying that he hates himself. His self-esteem appears to be significantly affected by his experience of school, and these difficulties are not confined to the classroom."
Next: Document 3 - Evidence checklist → 2 / 5

Example built from sample answers. Your request letter, parental views, evidence checklist, school letter and timeline are all written like this - from what you tell us.

What does getting this written properly cost?

SEN advocates and solicitors
£500 - £14,500
Typical private fees
plus weeks or months of waiting
VS
EHCPhelp
from £99.99
One-off, documents in minutes
written from your child's real story

The right support at school can change your child's entire education. Getting the request written properly should not cost thousands.

SEE THE DIFFERENCE

Same child. Different request.

This is how most parents write it, and this is what EHCPhelp writes. The SEN team reads both against the same legal test.

Request to the local authority SEN team
"Why do you believe your child may need an EHC needs assessment?"
✗ A TYPICAL PARENT LETTER
Typical wording
"Jake really struggles at school and gets very upset. He sometimes refuses to go in and the school isn't doing enough. We are at breaking point as a family. He needs more help."
What's wrong
  • ✗ Never mentions the legal test the council must apply
  • ✗ "Sometimes" - no frequencies, numbers or dates
  • ✗ Emotion where the SEN team needs evidence
  • ✗ Nothing on what school tried and whether it worked
How it reads to the SEN team
"No evidence the threshold is met"
✓ WITH EHCPhelp
EHCPhelp wording
"Jake may have special educational needs: he has been on the CAMHS waiting list for 14 months for suspected autism. He refuses school on 2 or 3 mornings each week and his attendance is 84% and falling. Despite seating changes, shared TA support and a 6 week ELSA block, his difficulties persist and are worsening. It may therefore be necessary for provision to be made through an EHC plan."
What works
  • ✓ Frames the case in the words of section 36(8)
  • ✓ Exact frequencies and numbers - 14 months, 84%
  • ✓ Shows what school tried and that difficulties persist
  • ✓ The evidence the Code of Practice tells councils to weigh
How it reads to the SEN team
"The statutory threshold is squarely addressed"

Example for illustration only. Decisions depend on your child's circumstances and the evidence provided. EHCPhelp provides document preparation support, not legal advice, and no outcome is guaranteed.

📋 Tip: Your council must decide within 6 weeks of receiving your request - regulation 5(1), SEND Regulations 2014

Simple, transparent pricing

Private SEN help costs anywhere from £500 to £14,500. Both packs below are one-off, fixed price and built from your child's real story.

See a free section of the parental views first →
★ Start Here
EHCNA Request Pack
£99.99 / one-off
For requesting an assessment
Everything you need to formally request an EHC needs assessment from your local authority – written from your child's real difficulties, ready to check, sign and send.
  • ✅ Formal request letter citing the section 36(8) legal test
  • ✅ Detailed parental views in Code of Practice language
  • ✅ Every frequency and number you give preserved as evidence
  • ✅ Evidence checklist matched to what you already have
  • ✅ Letter to the school (SENCO)
  • ✅ Statutory timeline with every deadline explained
  • ✅ Works with or without a diagnosis
  • ✅ Copy, download and email delivery in minutes
✅ A complete, personalised EHCNA request: 5 documents built from what you tell us about your child.
See a full example pack
Refusal Appeal Pack
£149.99 / one-off
For after a refusal
The council said no? The overwhelming majority of refusal-to-assess appeals succeed (99% of decided SEND appeals in 2024/25, MoJ). This pack answers every reason in their letter against the legal test and walks you through the appeal.
  • ✅ Personalised grounds of appeal, reason by reason
  • ✅ Unlawful refusal criteria identified and countered
  • ✅ Rebuilt parental views for the tribunal
  • ✅ SEND Tribunal form walkthrough, step by step
  • ✅ Mediation certificate explained
  • ✅ Evidence bundle checklist
  • ✅ "What the council will say" response guide
  • ✅ Appeal deadline timeline
✅ Turns the council's own refusal letter into your strongest appeal, point by point.
See a full example pack
Already been refused?

Free Refusal Letter Analyser

Before you spend a penny, paste the council's refusal letter into our free analyser. Councils routinely refuse for reasons that are not part of the legal test - no diagnosis, "try SEN support first", internal criteria. The analyser flags every argument in your letter that does not hold up against section 36(8).

✓ Unlawful reasons flagged
✓ Mapped to the legal test
✓ Free, 3 checks a day
Analyse My Refusal Letter - Free

Then, if you decide to appeal, the Appeal Pack turns those findings into full grounds of appeal

How EHCPhelp compares to other EHCP help

What you get, what it costs, and how long it takes - honest comparison.

★ FIXED PRICE
What you need Free templates (IPSEA / SENDIASS) SEN advocate / solicitor EHCPhelp
Cost Free £500 - £14,500 From £99.99
Waiting time None, but you do all the writing Weeks to months Minutes
Written from your child's specific story ✗ Blank template - you find the words ✓ At hourly rates ✓ Every document personalised
Cites the section 36(8) legal test Structure yes, argument is up to you ✓ Usually ✓ In every request letter
Evidence checklist matched to your child ✗ Generic lists Varies ✓ Built from what you already have
Statutory deadlines tracked for you ✗ You look them up ✓ ✓ Timeline document included
Grounds of appeal after a refusal ✗ Template only ✓ Often £2,000+ ✓ In the Appeal Pack (£149.99)

Free help is excellent but stretched. Specialist help is priced out of reach. EHCPhelp sits in between: personalised documents at a fixed price.

Built on the actual law

EHCPhelp documents cite the Children and Families Act 2014, the SEND Regulations 2014 and the SEND Code of Practice 2015 - the same framework your local authority must apply when it reads your request. No invented thresholds, no internal criteria, just the statutory test.

📋
Statutory Framework
CAFA 2014 and SEND Regulations 2014
🔒
Data Never Stored
No date of birth or address collected
⏰
Available 24/7
No waiting lists or appointments
🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿
England-wide
The EHCNA process for every local authority

Frequently asked questions

Everything you need to know before you start.

No. The legal test in section 36(8) of the Children and Families Act 2014 asks whether your child has or MAY have special educational needs, and whether it MAY be necessary for support to be provided through an EHC plan. Suspected autism, ADHD or dyslexia, a CAMHS referral or a place on a waiting list all count as evidence. A council that insists on a diagnosis is applying a test that does not exist in law.
Yes. Parents have their own independent right to request an EHC needs assessment under section 36(1) of the Children and Families Act 2014. The school cannot block it and the council must respond to you directly within 6 weeks. Our documents are designed exactly for parent requests.
No, and anyone who says they can is misleading you. The decision always rests with the local authority and, on appeal, with the tribunal. What we do is make sure your request is framed around the correct legal test, in the language the SEN team and the SEND Code of Practice expect, with your child's real difficulties presented as clear evidence. That is the part parents most often get wrong, and it is fixable.
Yes. Your child's name is optional (we write "my child" if you leave it blank), we never ask for their date of birth, address or school name, and everything you type is processed in real time to build your documents and is not stored afterwards.
The Request Pack (£99.99) is for parents about to ask the council for an EHC needs assessment: a formal request letter, detailed parental views, an evidence checklist, a letter to the school and a deadline timeline. The Appeal Pack (£149.99) is for parents whose request has been refused: it adds personalised grounds of appeal answering each of the council's reasons against the legal test, plus a step-by-step guide to the tribunal appeal form and the mediation certificate.
Within minutes. Your documents are generated as soon as your form is complete, can be copied or downloaded straight away and are also emailed to you. The only things left for you to add are the details we deliberately never ask for, like your child's date of birth and the SEN team's address.
The council must tell you whether it will carry out the assessment within 6 weeks (regulation 5(1) of the SEND Regulations 2014). If it agrees, the whole process from your request to a final plan must take no more than 20 weeks. If it refuses, you can appeal, and the overwhelming majority of refusal-to-assess appeals succeed, most of them decided on paper without a hearing. Your pack includes a timeline document with every deadline.
IPSEA and SENDIASS are excellent and we often point parents to them. A template gives you the right structure with blank spaces, and you still have to find the right words for your child yourself. EHCPhelp builds the documents from what you tell us about your child, so the request letter, parental views and evidence checklist arrive already written in the language of the Code of Practice, ready to check, sign and send. Questions afterwards? Email support@ehcphelp.co.uk.

Have a Question?

Not sure if EHCPhelp fits your child's situation? Ask us anything - we usually reply within a few hours.