EHC Needs Assessment Refused: What to Do Next

Updated 4 July 2026 · Legal citations verified against legislation.gov.uk

The letter has arrived and the council has said no. After weeks of gathering evidence, chasing the school for records and filling in forms, a refusal to assess can feel like a door slammed in your face. It is not. A refusal is a decision letter, not a verdict on your child, and it is one of the most frequently overturned decisions in the entire SEND system. This guide covers what to do in the first 48 hours, the three routes open to you and why the appeal route is far less daunting than most parents fear.

The first 48 hours: read the letter against the real test

Sit down with the letter and a highlighter and mark every reason the council gives for refusing. Then compare each one against the only test the law allows. Under section 36(8) of the Children and Families Act 2014, the local authority must secure an assessment if your child has or may have special educational needs and it may be necessary for special educational provision to be made in accordance with an EHC plan. Both limbs say may. Parliament chose a deliberately low threshold, lower than the test for actually issuing a plan, because the whole point of an assessment is to find out what is going on.

Now look at what the letter actually relies on. Refusal letters lean heavily on reasons that appear nowhere in section 36(8): there is no diagnosis yet, the school has not completed enough cycles of the graduated approach, the school has not spent enough of its own SEN budget, your child is coping academically or the request does not meet the council's local criteria. None of these can lawfully found a refusal on its own. The SEND Code of Practice 2015 tells councils at paragraph 9.14 to look at the whole picture, including physical, emotional and social development and health needs, not just academic attainment. Paragraph 9.16 says a council may have local criteria but must be prepared to depart from them where there is a compelling reason. Our guide to council blanket policies takes these reasons apart one by one.

Check what the council was required to tell you

Look at the letter for something else too. When a council refuses to assess, regulation 5(3) of the SEND Regulations 2014 requires it to tell you about your right to appeal, the time limits that apply, mediation and disagreement resolution services. If any of that is missing from your letter, make a note of it. It will not change the decision by itself, but it tells you something about how carefully this refusal was put together, and it belongs in your evidence if you challenge it.

The decision itself had to reach you within 6 weeks of your request under regulation 5(1). Keep the letter, the envelope or the email with its date, because the appeal clock runs from the decision.

Route one: ask the council to reconsider in writing

Nothing stops you writing straight back to the SEN team, quoting section 36(8), pointing out which of their stated reasons form no part of the statutory test and asking them to reconsider. This is quick, free and sometimes effective, particularly where you can add fresh evidence the panel did not see. Two cautions. First, do it in writing rather than by phone, so there is a record of exactly what you said and when. Second, and this is the important one, a reconsideration request does not pause the appeal deadline. Treat it as something you do alongside protecting your appeal, never instead of it.

Route two: mediation

Before you can appeal, you must contact a mediation adviser and obtain a mediation certificate. Here is the part many parents misread: you only have to consider mediation. You are not required to attend a session, and the adviser issues your certificate either way. If you do choose to attend, it is free, and some councils do shift their position once a mediator is in the room. The refusal letter should include the mediation service's contact details, because regulation 5(3) requires the council to signpost it. Contact the adviser early: the date on your certificate can extend your appeal deadline, as explained below.

Route three: appeal to the First-tier Tribunal (SEND)

The formal route is an appeal using form SEND35A. Take care with the form number: SEND35 without the A is a different form, used for appeals about decisions on plans themselves. The deadline is 2 months from the date of the decision letter or 1 month from the date of your mediation certificate, whichever is later. If an appeal arrives late, the tribunal requires written reasons for the delay or it returns the papers, so aim to file well inside the window rather than testing it. Our step-by-step SEND35A guide walks through every part of the form.

Why appealing is far less daunting than it sounds

Most parents picture a courtroom, a judge and a council barrister. That is not what a refusal-to-assess appeal looks like. Three facts change the picture completely.

• There is no fee. SEND appeals cost nothing to bring.
• There is normally no hearing. Refusal-to-assess appeals are usually decided on the papers. You write your grounds, send your evidence and a tribunal panel reads everything. Nobody cross-examines you.
• The numbers are overwhelmingly on the family's side. In 2024/25 about 25,000 SEND appeals were registered with the tribunal and 24% of them challenged a refusal to secure an assessment. Of the appeals that went all the way to a decision, 99% went in the family's favour, according to Ministry of Justice tribunal statistics. Councils also often concede before a decision is ever made. Our guide to SEND tribunal success rates unpacks what those numbers do and do not mean.

None of this guarantees any individual outcome, and preparing good grounds takes real effort. But the process was designed so that parents can use it without a lawyer, and the statistics show that refusals very rarely survive independent scrutiny. The system is under enormous pressure and refusals are often how that pressure is managed. That is a failure of the system, not of your request and certainly not of your child.

Keep the evidence fresh

A refusal was decided on the evidence the council saw weeks ago. Life has moved on since then, and whichever route you take, what has changed since the request matters. Start a dated diary now and gather:

• new incidents at school or at home, with dates and what happened
• the latest attendance figure if it has moved
• new referrals, appointments or waiting list letters that have arrived since you applied
• anything the school has put in writing since the request, including emails about behaviour, progress or support

Remember regulation 7(b) of the SEND Regulations 2014: the local authority must consider information provided by or at the request of the parent, including private reports. Nothing you gather now is wasted, whichever route ends up working. If you need a refresher on what makes evidence persuasive, see our guide to gathering EHCP evidence.

Frequently asked questions