What is an Education, Health, and Care Needs Assessment?
An EHC Needs Assessment is a detailed assessment of your education, health, and care needs.
It is the first step to getting an education, health, and care (EHC) Plan.
An EHC plan can result in additional support and money for you at sixth form or college if you have special educational needs (SEN).
SEN is when you find learning or being at sixth form or college a struggle compared to other students and need extra or different types of help for this.
Find out more information about getting extra or different types of help at school.
If you or your sixth form or college, feel the help they are providing is not enough or they need more money to keep the help going, then you (your parent/carer if you agree) or your sixth form or college, can request an EHC Needs Assessment from the council. The council is usually referred to as the local authority (LA).
Before the request is made you are expected to give your views on what you are having difficulties with, the help you are receiving, and what help you think you need.
The letter or form used to make an EHC Needs Assessment request, should contain the following information:
- A description of your SEN (what you are struggling with or finding difficult)
- The support you need for your SEN
- The support already put in place by your sixth form or college
- Your progress so far
- Your SEN Support Plan/IEP or Provision Map and reports written by any professionals who have seen or worked with you
When the local authority receive the EHC Needs Assessment request, they must consider:
- Whether you have or may have special educational needs; and,
- Whether you may need special educational provision (extra or different types of help) to be made through an EHC Plan
When the local authority receive the EHC Needs Assessment request, they will read though the information submitted with request and decide whether to start the EHC Assessment or not.
If the local authority agree to starting an EHC Needs Assessment, then there are number of steps that they have to follow legally. The EHC Needs Assessment process takes 20 weeks from when the local authority receive the request and to the end of the process.
Below is a timeline of each step of the EHC Needs Assessment process, timescales and what happens at each step. Click the timeline to view a larger version.
What is an Education, Health and Care (EHC) Needs Assessment?
How we can help
We can:
- Go through any questions you have about EHC Needs Assessment
- Support you to make an EHC Needs Assessment request (by helping you to write it or look through a draft request you have written)
- Provide you with support through the different steps of an EHC Needs Assessment
- Provide advice on your options when you have a Right of Appeal
You can download our leaflet on EHC Needs Assessment:
- What is an Education, Health and Care (EHC) Needs Assessment?
- Education, Health and Care (EHC) plans
- Needs Assessment request template letter
How to contact us
You can contact us by:
- Phone: Call or text our Children and Young People’s Officer on 07917 504 390
- Phone: Call our office Helpline Number on 020 8871 8065
- Email: wiass@wandsworth.gov.uk