SEND Watchtower

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Ask the local authority for an EHC needs assessment yourself

Applies when: early concern — something is not right; on sen support at school.

The entitlement

Any parent, or a young person over 16, can ask their local authority for an education, health and care needs assessment directly, under section 36(1) of the Children and Families Act 2014. The school does not have to agree and cannot veto the request. The legal test is deliberately low: the child may have special educational needs, and may need provision made through an EHC plan.

Source: Children and Families Act 2014, section 36 (UK Parliament); Asking for an EHC needs assessment (IPSEA).

What to do

  1. Write to the local authority's SEN team asking for an EHC needs assessment. IPSEA publishes a model letter; the request is yours to make, whatever the school says.

    Source: Model letters (request for an EHC needs assessment) (IPSEA); Asking for an EHC needs assessment (IPSEA).

  2. Keep the date you sent it. The authority has six weeks from receiving the request to tell you whether it will assess, under regulation 5(1) of the SEND Regulations 2014.

    Source: SEND Regulations 2014, regulation 5 (six-week decision) (UK Parliament).

  3. Describe what your child finds hard and what help they already get. You do not need a diagnosis, a report, or the school's backing to make the request.

    Source: Asking for an EHC needs assessment (IPSEA).

  4. If the authority decides not to assess, that decision carries a right of appeal — see the refusal-to-assess route on these pages.

    Source: Refusal to assess appeals (IPSEA).

What the data shows

In 2024/25 the SEND Tribunal found for the family in 99.2% of the appeals it decided, across roughly 29,000 registered appeals.

Source: Tribunal Statistics Quarterly, July to September 2025 — SEND Tribunal Tables 2024 to 2025 (Ministry of Justice / HM Courts & Tribunals Service); New figures show nearly all parents in England forced to go to SEND Tribunal win (Contact).

Across England, 46.4% of new EHC plans in 2025 were issued within the statutory 20-week limit (excluding exceptional cases).

Source: Education, health and care plans: Reporting year 2026 (Department for Education).

If this is you

If your child has no diagnosis yet

A diagnosis is not part of the legal test. "Needs a diagnosis first" is a common gatekeeping myth; the threshold is only that the child may have SEN and may need a plan.

Source: Asking for an EHC needs assessment (IPSEA).

If the young person is over 16

A young person over compulsory school age can make the request in their own name under section 36(1), up to age 25.

Source: Children and Families Act 2014, section 36 (UK Parliament).

This guide states entitlements and cites the source of every claim. It is not advice about an individual case — for that, contact IPSEA or your local SENDIASS.