EHC Needs Assessments

The term SEND is used if a child or young person has a Special Educational Need and/or Disability.

Find out more about SEND

For some children, the need for SEND support starts early and their family or early years education provider may realise that they need extra support to continue to make progress.

Sometimes children need further support from a young age and as they move into school. Where this happens the child's needs and progress will be monitored through Graduated Response cycles of plan, do and review at their early years education provider. These will be evidenced through an individual provision map and will be reviewed every 6 weeks alongside families, to show the small steps of progress the child has made.

Following the monitoring of the Graduated Response cycles the following outcomes may be decided:

• the child has made sufficient progress without further monitoring.
• the child has made good progress because of the support they have received but will need to continue with the Graduated Response cycle monitoring and/or may enter school at SEN support level.
• the child's needs mean that an EHC Needs Assessment should be applied for. Parents or the child’s early years education provider can apply for this using the cycles of graduated response as documented evidence, to show the steps that have been taken to support the child. The EHC Needs Assessment will then outline the areas of need for the child to notify the provider and/or school of the support needed.

EHCP stands for Education, Health and Care Plan

Education, Health and Care Plans have replaced Statements of Special Educational Needs and Learning Difficulty Assessments. The Plan is put together by professionals in education, health and social care to make sure children with SEND have a package of support to help them through to adulthood (until they are 25).

Special educational needs and provision covers four broad areas.

• communication and interaction
• cognition and learning
• social, emotional and mental health difficulties
• sensory and/or physical

Further information on the different types of SEND

Your child may need more specialist help where their school is unable to meet their needs using a graduated response and Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) support available through the local offer.

This may mean that we carry out a needs assessment called an Education Health and Care Assessment or EHC assessment with your child. During the EHC assessment the Council will expect to see evidence of the action taken by the school as part of the graduated response of SEN support.

This EHC assessment would then be turned into an Education, Health and Care Plan.

Watch a video explaining more about EHC Plans

What information does an EHCP contain?

The EHC assessment is a detailed look at your child’s special educational needs and Disabilities (SEND) and the support he or she may need in order to learn. We are responsible for carrying out the needs assessments under the Children and Families Act 2014.

A request for an EHC Needs Assessment  should only be made where a child/young person is failing to make expected progress following the Graduated response Assess/Plan/Do/Review cycles AND the special educational provision required to meet the child or young person's needs cannot reasonably be provided from the resources normally available to their setting through the local offer.

The EHC assessment brings together information about:

• your child's education, health and care needs
• special educational, health and care provision that may be required to meet those needs

It includes information from:

• you
• your child
• the early years’ setting or school
• other professionals who work with or support your child
• post 16 providers

Common features of an EHCP

EHCPs may vary on the individual, however they have to be based on plans drawn up in chapter 9 of the SEND Code of Practice, which lays down some common features or sections that all EHCPs have to include:

• section A: family views and aspirations
• section B: his or her special educational needs (SEN)
• section C: any health needs that are related to his or her SEN
• section D: his or her social care needs
• section E: what outcomes you’re hoping to achieve, including your long-term hopes for his or her adult life
• section F: what special educational provision he or she requires
• section G: what health care provision he or she may require
• section H: what social care provision or support he or she may require
• section I: the name of your child or young person's school or other placement, and what kind of institution it is
• section J: this covers the Personal Budget. If you have one, and how it may be used to meet any outcomes
• section K: appendices (the advice and information that was gathered when the EHC needs were being assessed)

EHC assessment requests

EHC assessment request form

When an early years setting, school or post 16 provider makes a request for statutory assessment the Local Authority must determine that the legal test of need has been met (that is, that the child or young person has or may have special educational needs and that they may need provision via an EHC plan). Each case is looked at on merit, and in most cases the setting would evidence that at least two cycles of SEN support have been carried out without success. However, if the setting, or parent/carers believe that the setting is not able to provide the help and support which is needed, or the child is at crisis point before any cycles of SEN Support have been completed, they would evidence this and a request for an EHC needs assessment can be made.

The setting or school should be able to provide written evidence of the different perceptions of those involved with the child/young person, any immediate educational concerns and an overall picture of their strengths and weaknesses.

In your setting this could be:

• Teacher/Tutor
• Teaching/Early Years Assistant
• Learning support
• School Nurse/Health Visitor
• School/Early Years SENDCo

The setting's or school's Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator (SENCo) is responsible for making sure that the steps taken to meet the needs of individual children are recorded and that these records are properly kept and available as evidence to include in an EHCP.

The Local Authority will also require evidence of input and support including details of the involvement of external professionals.

External professionals could include:

• Educational Psychologist
• Paediatrician
• Behaviour Support
• Learning Support
• Health Visitor/Health Care Professionals
• GP
• CAMHS
• Umbrella Pathway
• Occupational Therapist
• Speech and Language Therapist

Further information on the range of professionals and services your child may meet on their SEND journey

Who can ask for an EHC needs assessment?

• parents – by writing to the local authority
• a young person over the age of 16 but under the age of 25
• your early years setting, school or post 16 providers but only after talking with you first.

It is always a good idea to talk to your early years setting, school or post 16 providers before asking for an EHC needs assessment as they can provide essential evidence to support your request.

Other people, such as your doctor or a health visitor, can also tell the local authority that they think your child needs an assessment.

We have produced a step-by-step guide to this new EHCP Assessment process, and how to use the portal

It can be downloaded here: Parents guide to submitting and EHCP assessment request (PDF)

EHC Assessment request form

The Education, Health and Care Needs Assessment (EHCNA) is an in depth look at your child’s special educational needs and disabilities and the support they may need to reach their full potential. Worcestershire County Council, is responsible for carrying out the EHCNA under the Children and Families Act 2014.

An EHCNA does not always lead to an Education, Health and Care plan (EHCP) being issued, but if one is, then it should not take more than 20 weeks from requesting an assessment to a final EHCP being issued. We have developed this timeline to show what must be done and when during this 20-week period and what you should expect and what may need to be done by you.

• EHC Needs Assessment timeline (PDF)
   

Naming Provision in an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) – Section I

As part of the assessment of your child/young person’s needs you will be asked to express a preference for a school for your child to attend. This is a short guide to what this means and what you might want to consider.

What can I ask for?

The Special Educational Needs and Disability Code of Practice 2015 says that a child’s parent or the young person has a right to request a particular type of school, college or other establishment to be named in the EHCP.

This can be a:

• Maintained nursery school
• Maintained school or any form of academy or free school (mainstream or special)
• Non-maintained special school
• Further education or sixth form college
• Independent school or independent specialist college (where they have been approved for this purpose by the Secretary of State and published in the Section 41 list) Independent special schools and colleges - GOV.UK

Do I need to express a preference?

In the majority of cases most children/young people will remain in their current provision. The issuing of an EHCP does not mean that a child/young person’s placement will change. The EHCP simply outlines that the provision required by the child/young person is over and above, and different to the provision that is usually available. With the additional resources that the EHCP brings, the Local Authority would expect schools to meet these needs with additional support and use of reasonable adjustments.

If you are happy with your child’s placement you simply need to tell us this. If you do wish to express a preference for an alternative provision, then you are able to do so, and the Local Authority has a duty to consult with them.

What are Reasonable Adjustments?

When considering a placement for a child/young person with special educational needs and/or disability the school/provision must consider all reasonable steps that may be taken to remove any barriers/incompatibility to make the required provision for the child/young person these are known as Reasonable Adjustments.

There are many reasonable steps that may be taken, and the list below are just a few examples (more can be found in The Special Educational Needs Code of Practice 2015 9.91-9.94):

• Provision of time out/quiet space
• Use of peer support
• Additional adult support
• Identifying behaviour triggers
• Risk assessments
• Use of visual timetables
• Individual workstations
• Staff training and awareness
• Effective transition and preparation for change

The list is not exhaustive as each individual’s case needs to be considered and the appropriate reasonable adjustments made.

Will my choice be named in the Plan?

The Local Authority must comply with your preference and name the school/college in the plan unless:

• The school/college would be unsuitable for the age, ability, aptitude or SEN of the child or young person or
• The attendance of the child or young person would be incompatible with the efficient education of others or the efficient use of resources

Efficient education means providing for each child or young person a suitable, appropriate education in terms of their age, ability, aptitude, and any special educational needs they may have.

What can I do if I’m not happy?

• Please contact your child’s SEND case worker or contact SEND Services to discuss your concerns. We would like to work with you to find a way forward -  01905 845579  sen@worcestershire.gov.uk
• Discuss any concerns with your SENCO or SEND lead
• Herefordshire and Worcestershire SENDIASS (SEND information, Advice and Support Service) - 01905 768153 sendiass@worcestershire.gov.uk 
• You have the right to free, independent Mediation, to find out more: Mediation (SEND Local Offer) or contact SEND Services for details – 01905 845579 sen@worcestershire.gov.uk If you are appealing the education setting only, you can go straight to Tribunal, but you must contact the mediation service first in all other cases.
• You have the right of appeal to the Special Educational Needs and Disability Tribunal. Telephone– 01325 289350. SEND Tribunals (Gov.UK).  You need to register your appeal within 2 months of receipt of the Final Plan.

Download: Naming provision in an EHCP (PDF)

The purpose of the SEND Placement and Provision Panel is to ensure there is transparent, consistent, fair and focused decision making, in line with the legislation for the educational placement of children and young people with Education, Health and Care Plans (EHC Plans).

The SEND Placement and Provision Panel is where a decision is made about the type of educational setting that a child or young person requires. 

They also make decisions relating to:

• any changes to the level of support
• not to issue an Education, Health and Care Plan following an assessment or reassessment
• cease to maintain an Education, Health and Care Plan
• all requests for a Personal Education Budget or EOTAS package
• any requests that have a financial cost for example requests for a change in banding

What happens at the Panel?

The information relating to the child and their needs is compiled by the Case Work Officer and is shared with members of the SEND Placement and Provision Panel prior to the meeting. This is so that they can read through everything and prepare for the meeting. The information considered by the Panel will vary depending on the request, but can include:

• Confirmation of the needs of the child or young person
• Attendance data
• Information from the parent or carer
• The views of the child or young person themselves
• Professional advice
• The EHC plan
• The review of an EHC plan
• Information about the cost of the proposed provision 

The SEND Panel considers every request on an individual basis. It makes decisions based on the evidence provided and the following law and regulations:

• The Children and Families Act 2014
• The Special Educational Needs and Disability Regulations 2014
• The Special Educational Needs (Personal Budgets) Regulations 2014
• The SEND Code of Practice 2015

Notes of the decision made are taken during the meeting and are used, by the Case Work Officer, to provide feedback to parent/ carers.

Who attends the Panel?

• Director of All Age Disability (Chair)
• Principal Educational Psychologist/Head of Inclusion Support Services
• Designated Clinical Officer
• Group Manager – Children and Young Adults with Disabilities Social Care Team
• A representative from the Commissioning Hub (The Commissioning Hub team support the identification of suitable educational placements for children i.e. independent settings and setting up contracts and finance packages)
• A representative from the SEN Leadership Team i.e. a Team Manager or Group Manager
• A SENCO representative
• Case Work Officer who presents the case, makes recommendations, and answers any questions Panel members may have

Where required other professionals are invited to attend to provide information to inform the decision making. For example, a member of staff from the Complex Communication Team, Social Care or Sensory Impairment Team. 

How you can share your views as a child, young person or family

Parents, children and young people don't attend the SEND Placement and Provision Panel meetings, but you are an important part of our decision making. You can provide your views in a number of ways:

• During a needs assessment for an EHC plan
• As part of the review process for an EHC plan
• By contacting the SEND Team at any time to share information you want to be considered by the Panel

Frequency of Meetings 

The Panel meets on a weekly basis and is on Microsoft Teams.

What happens after the meeting?

Following the Panel meeting, the Case Work Officer will share the decision with you. For example, this could be via email or a telephone call. This will happen within three working days of the meeting. 

If you disagree with the decision made by the Panel or require further information about what was discussed, please speak with your Case Work Officer in the first instance, who will provide advice on the next steps.  

Download: Panel terms of reference (PDF)

We would like to thank the parent carer from the Parent Stakeholder Group who gave their time and expertise to help co-produce this information.

Your case worker (CWO) can spend a considerable proportion of their working week in meetings, so they are not always available to speak to you immediately. We understand how frustrating it can be if you can’t speak to them when you call, so we have put measures in place to help. 

We have increased the number of people who answer the calls in the first instance, and it maybe that they can answer some of the queries that you have. However, we do realise that in most cases you are looking for an update from your CWO. We need to ensure there is a balance between the time case workers are on the phone and doing their other case work, so we have introduced a system called Phone Surgery Appointments.

The phone surgery system means that if you contact the office and your CWO is not available, a time for a call back from them will be agreed and booked. 

Case workers have allocated time in their diaries each week for these phone surgeries. Whoever answers your call will be able to see these surgery slots and discuss with you what is the best time and day for you. 

Once a time has been agreed details of your query will be taken and they will book a 15-minute appointment in the CWO’s calendar. You will then know when you can expect your call back and CWO will have the time allotted in their virtual diary. 

If you are continually struggling to get responses from a Case Officer, you can escalate this to their manager.

Transition to post 16 provision

Colleges should be involved in transition planning between school and college so that they can prepare to meet the student’s needs and ensure a successful transition into college life.

Colleges should give all applicants an opportunity before, or at entry, and at subsequent points, to declare whether they have a learning need, a disability, or a medical condition which will affect their learning.

If a student makes a declaration the college should discuss with the student how they can provide support.

Students who fell behind at School, or who are studying below Level 2, should have their needs identified and appropriate support should be provided.

Colleges and post 16 institutions

All post-16 students with additional or special educational needs or disabilities who attend Post-16 education have a minimum entitlement to provision that is normally available, whichever school or college they attend. Under the SEND Code of Practice (0-25), further education colleges and other Post-16 Institutions have the following duties that they must follow:

• to co-operate with the local authority on arrangements for young people with SEND
• to offer a place to a young person if the institution is named in an educational health and care (EHC) plan
• to have regard to the SEND code of practice
• to do everything they can to secure the special educational provision that the young person needs

As well as this, there are the following duties under the 2010 equality act:

• colleges and institutions must not discriminate against, harass or victimise young people who are disabled
• they must make reasonable adjustments to prevent young people being placed at a significant disadvantage
• they must prevent discrimination, promote equal opportunities and good relationships

Ordinarily available for post 16 learners

Colleges and other post-16 providers have their own arrangements in place for meeting the needs of young people with SEND, but a range of provision should be available at an appropriate level to meet the young person's needs. This includes:

• a college must do its best to put appropriate support in place (SEND Code of Practice: 0 to 25 years, 2014)
• young people should be supported to participate in discussions about their aspirations, their needs and the support that they think will help them best
• support should be aimed at promoting student independence and enabling the young person to make good progress towards employment and/or higher education, independent living, good health and participating in the community
• support should be evidence based
• colleges should be aware of effective practice in the sector and elsewhere, and personalise it for the individual
• they should keep the needs of the students with SEND under regular review
• for many learners, their needs will be met out of the institution's own SEND Support, as part of its approach to meeting those needs. Details should be published on college websites. For those with more complex needs, provision will be set out in an Educational and Health Care Plan

The Graduated Response within post 16 provision

Where a student has a learning difficulty or disability that calls for special educational provision, the college must discuss with students the type of appropriate support to put in place for them.

Colleges should take the "Assess, Plan, Do Review" cyclical approach to assessing need, planning and providing support. They should involve the student closely at all stages of the cycle and they should ensure that staff have the skills to do this effectively.

Special educational support might include, for example:

• assistive technology
• personal care (or access to it)
• specialist tuition
• note-takers
• interpreters
• one-to-one and small group learning support
• travel training
• accessible information such as symbol based materials
• access to therapies (e.g. speech and language therapy)

Specialist help should be involved where the student’s needs are not being met by the setting, and if they still are not progressing with the support being provided the young person can be considered for an assessment for an EHC plan.

Where a young person is aged over 18 consideration must be given to whether or not the young person requires additional time (in comparison to the majority of others of the same age who do not have SEN) to complete their education or training.

Funding for SEN Support post 16

All mainstream colleges are provided with resources to support students with additional needs, including young people with SEN and disabilities. School and academy sixth forms, sixth form colleges, further education colleges and 16-19 academies receive an allocation based on a national funding formula for their core provision.

Colleges have additional funding for students with additional needs, including those with SEN. This funding is not ring-fenced and is included in their main allocation in a ‘single line’ budget. Colleges are expected to provide appropriate, high quality SEN support using all available resources.

It is usually when the student needs a level of support in excess of that Ordinarily Available that the Post 16 provider can either request Top Up Funding from the Local Authority directly or via a request for an EHC Needs Assessment. However, each case is looked at on merit, and if the setting, or the young person or their parent/carers believe that the setting is not able to provide the help and support which is needed, before any cycles of SEN Support have been completed, they would evidence this and a request for an EHC needs assessment can be made. In such cases, the local authority may consider it is necessary for special educational provision to be made through an EHC plan and it should carry out an EHC needs assessment.

For more information see Post 16 learning options for young people with SEND.

For young people who transition to post 18, who have special educational needs, the provision of an EHC Plan or assessment for a Plan, may be required in order for the young person to achieve their outcomes.

The Local Authority will need to consider whether still being in education or training will enable the young person to progress and achieve those outcomes and help them prepare for adulthood. 

Young people who no longer need to remain in formal education or training will not require an EHC Plan and therefore the Plan will be ceased.

When determining whether a young person aged over 18 no longer requires the special educational provision in their EHC plan, the local authority must have regard to whether the educational or training outcomes specified in the plan have been achieved.

Decisions to cease to maintain the EHCP will be based on the Annual Reviews that take place to determine whether the legal test for ceasing to maintain a plan has been met (that the local authority is no longer responsible for the young person, or that it is no longer necessary for the EHC plan to be maintained). Each Young Person’s exit from an EHCP will be planned carefully to support transitions and effective preparation to adulthood.

In addition, a young person who is studying for a level 4 qualification (higher education level, such as a degree) would not be entitled to an EHC plan.

There are separate systems in place to support disabled young people in higher education, including Disabled Students’ Allowances (DSAs). These are non-repayable grants that assist with additional costs incurred by disabled students, you can find out more on Gov.uk here: Disabled Students’ Allowances (DSAs)

Schools and colleges

Download: Schools Guide to Submitting an EHC Assessment Request (PDF)

Submit a SEND referral

Other Local Authorities

Submit an EHCP transfer in