What to Include in an EHC Needs Assessment Request Letter

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

The letter asking your local authority for an Education, Health and Care needs assessment does more than start a process. It sets the legal frame your evidence is judged against and starts a statutory clock. You do not need a solicitor to write it; you need the right elements in the right order. This guide walks through them one by one.

Open with a formal request under section 36(1)

Your first paragraph should leave no doubt about what the letter is. A single sentence does it: "I am writing as [child]'s parent to formally request an Education, Health and Care needs assessment for [child] under section 36(1) of the Children and Families Act 2014."

That sentence matters more than it looks. Local authorities received 162,700 requests for assessment during 2025, 5.3% more than in 2024 (Department for Education, January 2026 release). At that volume, a letter that reads like a general concern can drift; one that is unmistakably a section 36(1) request must be decided within statutory deadlines. The right is yours independently of the school, which cannot block, approve or delay a parent's request.

State the test the council must apply

Next, set out the legal test, so the decision-maker reads your evidence against the statute rather than against internal criteria. Under section 36(8) of the Children and Families Act 2014 the local authority must secure an assessment if it is of the opinion that both of the following are true:

• the child has or may have special educational needs
• it may be necessary for special educational provision to be made in accordance with an EHC plan

Note the words "may have" and "may be necessary". Parliament chose a deliberately low threshold, lower than the test for actually issuing a plan. No diagnosis is required by law. Councils may publish local criteria, but paragraph 9.16 of the SEND Code of Practice 2015 says they must be prepared to depart from them where there is a compelling reason.

Evidence limb (a): has or may have special educational needs

If your child has a diagnosis, name it and enclose the report. If not, say plainly that the law does not require one. Referral letters, a place on the CAMHS or neurodevelopmental pathway waiting list, speech and language involvement, school SEN support records and your own dated observations all evidence "may have". Our guide to requesting an assessment without a diagnosis covers this in detail.

Bullet the difficulties, with frequencies

This is where most letters are won or lost. General adjectives ask the reader to take your word for it; numbers let the reader see it. Compare "mornings are a nightmare" with a bulleted list like:

• Refuses to enter the school building 2 or 3 mornings a week
• Attendance is 84% this term and falling, confirmed by the school office
• Has been collected early 4 times since September, each recorded by the school
• Working two year groups behind in writing, according to the autumn teacher report

Every bullet should be specific, dated where possible and checkable against a record someone else holds, so gather attendance figures and school records before you write.

Evidence limb (b): build it around paragraph 9.14

Limb (b) asks whether an EHC plan may be necessary. Paragraph 9.14 of the SEND Code of Practice 2015 lists what councils should pay particular attention to, so structure this part of the letter around exactly those heads:

• Academic attainment and rate of progress, or developmental milestones for younger children
• The nature, extent and context of your child's needs
• Whether the school has taken relevant and purposeful action and whether it enabled progress
• Whether any progress happened only because of support over and above what is usually provided
• Physical, emotional and social development and health needs

The third and fourth heads are the quiet heart of the letter. Describe what the school has tried and what happened. If things improved only while extra adult support was in place, say so: that is exactly the evidence that provision beyond the ordinary may be necessary.

Use your right to name professionals

During an assessment, regulation 6(1) of the SEND Regulations 2014 requires the council to seek advice from you, from the school, from an educational psychologist and from health and social care. Where the child is in Year 9 or above it must also seek advice about preparation for adulthood. Crucially, it must seek advice from any person you reasonably request, so name the paediatrician, therapist or specialist you want consulted in the letter itself. If your child has a hearing or vision impairment, regulation 6(2) requires the educational advice to come via a suitably qualified teacher, which is worth flagging too.

Ask the council to confirm the date it received the request

Every statutory deadline runs from the date of receipt: the decision on whether to assess within 6 weeks (regulation 5(1)), notification of any decision not to issue a plan within 16 weeks (regulation 10) and the final plan within 20 weeks (regulation 13). One line at the end of your letter asking the council to confirm in writing the date it received your request anchors all three. Our 20 week timeline guide sets out what should happen at each point.

Close with a clear enclosures list

End the letter with a numbered list of everything you are sending. Typical enclosures:

• Detailed parental views (see our guide to writing parental views)
• An attendance printout from the school office
• SEN support plans, provision maps or review notes
• Referral letters and waiting list confirmations with dates
• Any professional reports you hold, including private ones
• A short diary of dated incidents

Under regulation 7(b) of the SEND Regulations 2014 the council must consider information provided by you or at your request, including private reports, so nothing on that list is wasted.

Send it so you can prove the date

Email the letter to the SEN team with a delivery receipt or post it by recorded delivery, then keep dated copies of everything. The address is on your council's Local Offer website. Tell the SENCO you have applied at the same time, so the school is ready to share records when the council asks.

Common mistakes that weaken good letters

Emotional narrative without numbers. The exhaustion is real, but a page about how desperate things feel gives the council nothing it can measure. Keep the feeling to a line or two; put the weight on frequencies, dates and records.

No legal framing. A letter that never mentions section 36(1) or the section 36(8) test invites the council to judge your request against its own local criteria instead of the statute. Name the test.

Forgetting attendance. The attendance percentage is one of the easiest numbers to obtain and one of the most telling. Ask the school office for a printout before you send anything.

Frequently asked questions