How to Request an EHC Needs Assessment: a Parent's Step-by-Step Guide

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

If your child is struggling at school and the support in place is not working, an Education, Health and Care needs assessment (EHCNA) is the legal gateway to an EHC plan. You do not need the school's permission, you do not need a diagnosis and you do not need a solicitor. This guide walks through exactly how a parent in England requests one, what the law actually says and what happens after you press send.

Your legal right to ask (section 36(1))

Under section 36(1) of the Children and Families Act 2014, a request for an EHC needs assessment can be made by the child's parent, by a young person over 16 themselves or by a person acting on behalf of a school or college. Those are three separate, independent routes. Nothing in the law makes the parent's route conditional on the school agreeing, applying first or "signing anything off".

That matters because parents are regularly told to wait: for another round of SEN support, for the SENCO to "get to it next term" or for a diagnosis to come through. None of that is required. If you believe your child needs an assessment, you can write to the council today. Demand for assessments is enormous and rising: local authorities received 162,700 requests during 2025 alone, 5.3% up on 2024 (Department for Education, 2026), and 718,800 children and young people in England now have an EHC plan. Councils manage that pressure with queues and criteria; the law is what keeps your request moving.

The legal test is lower than most parents think (section 36(8))

The council does not decide your request against its own policies, funding thresholds or panels. The only test that matters is in section 36(8) of the Children and Families Act 2014. The local authority must secure an EHC needs assessment if it is of the opinion that:

• the 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.

Read those words again: "may have" and "may be necessary". Parliament chose a deliberately low threshold. You are not being asked to prove your child definitely needs a plan; that question is what the assessment itself exists to answer. The threshold for carrying out an assessment is different from and lower than the threshold for issuing a plan. Your request only needs to show that the possibility is real, with evidence.

Step 1: gather what you already have

Before writing, collect what exists right now. You do not need professional reports to request an assessment, but everything helps:

• An attendance printout from the school office, with the percentage
• Anything the teacher or SENCO has said in writing about levels or progress, for example "two years behind in writing"
• Copies of SEN support plans, provision maps or review notes if your child is on SEN support
• Referral letters and waiting list confirmations (CAMHS, speech and language, paediatrician), with how long you have waited
• A short diary of specific incidents with dates: refusals, meltdowns, early collections

Under regulation 7(b) of the SEND Regulations 2014, the local authority must consider information you provide, including any private reports. So nothing you send is wasted.

Step 2: write the request letter

Address it to the SEN team at your local authority; the address is on the council's Local Offer website. A strong request letter does five things:

1. Makes the request formally: "I am writing as [child]'s parent to formally request an Education, Health and Care needs assessment under section 36(1) of the Children and Families Act 2014."
2. States the legal test in plain words and notes the threshold is deliberately low, so the council reads your evidence against the right standard rather than its internal criteria.
3. Shows limb (a): your child has or may have special educational needs. Diagnosed conditions count; so do suspected needs, referrals and waiting lists. If there is no diagnosis, say plainly that the law does not require one.
4. Shows limb (b) with the evidence the SEND Code of Practice 2015 (paragraph 9.14) tells councils to look at: attainment and rate of progress, the nature and extent of the needs, what the school has done, whether progress happened only because of extra support, and your child's physical, emotional and social development.
5. Sets the clock: ask the council to confirm in writing the date it received your request, and note that it must notify you of its decision within 6 weeks under regulation 5(1).

Keep the tone factual and specific. "He refuses school 2 or 3 mornings a week and attendance is 84% and falling" does far more work than a paragraph about how desperate things feel, even though both are true. Numbers, frequencies and dates are what SEN teams weigh. For a full walkthrough of the enclosure that does the heavy lifting, see our guide to writing parental views.

Step 3: send it properly

Email the letter to the SEN team with a delivery receipt, or post it by recorded delivery. The 6 week clock runs from receipt, so proof of the date protects you. Send a short, polite note to the school's SENCO at the same time telling them you have applied and asking them to share their records with the council when contacted. Keep dated copies of everything you send and receive.

What happens next: every deadline

• Within 6 weeks: the council must tell you whether it will carry out the assessment (regulation 5(1), SEND Regulations 2014).
• If it agrees: during the assessment the council must seek advice from you, the school, an educational psychologist, health and social care and, importantly, from any person you reasonably request (regulation 6(1)).
• Within 16 weeks: if the council assesses but decides not to issue a plan, it must tell you by this point (regulation 10).
• Within 20 weeks: if a plan is issued, the final EHC plan must be in place no more than 20 weeks from your original request (regulation 13).
• If it refuses: you can appeal to the First-tier Tribunal (SEND) on form SEND35A, within 2 months of the decision letter or 1 month of a mediation certificate, whichever is later. Refusal is not the end: 99% of SEND appeals decided in 2024/25 went in the family's favour (Ministry of Justice tribunal statistics), and refusal-to-assess appeals are usually decided on paper without a hearing. Our guide to what to do after a refusal covers this step by step.

One thing to check before you send

If your child has already had an EHC needs assessment within the last 6 months, the council is not obliged to consider a new request until 6 months have passed since that assessment (section 36(6) of the Children and Families Act 2014). You can still prepare everything now and send it the day the 6 months are up.

Frequently asked questions