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What happens when we've carried out your child's needs assessment.
When deciding if your child needs special educational provision through issuing an EHC plan, the 'Decision and Moderation' Group looks at all the information gathered in the EHC needs assessment alongside the information available before the assessment.
The group looks at your child's special educational need, the provision made for them and:
- the information from the needs assessment confirms the information available on the nature and extent of your child's SEND before the assessment
- the provision made before the assessment was well matched to your child's SEND
- whether the special educational provision required to meet your child's needs can reasonably be provided from within the resources normally available to mainstream early years providers, schools and post-16 institutions
What happens after an EHC Needs Assessment
We'll let you know if we think your child needs an EHC plan within a maximum 16 weeks of you asking for an assessment.
If we decide not to issue a plan
We'll write to you and the professionals involved in the assessment with our reason why we've decided not to create an EHC plan. We'll include a copy of all the reports we had from anybody who contributed to the needs assessment process.
We'll also tell you about:
- how to get further advice and support
- independent disagreement resolution and mediation
- your right to appeal
The assessment should help your child's education setting and professionals working with your child by identifying the support required and how they'll provide that.
Talk to the SENCO at your child's education setting about how their needs will continue to be met through SEND Support.
Where it's needed, your child's setting and people involved should draw up a SEND Support Plan. This will use all the information gathered from the needs assessment. It should be reviewed with you and your child regularly.
Find information on SEN Support Plans.
If we decide your child needs an EHC plan
We'll write a draft EHC plan using the information provided in the written reports. We'll send you it to you for comments. You have 15 days to get it back to us.
You need to let us know if you're happy with it, or if you'd like any changes made. This includes asking for a particular school or other institution that you'd like your child to go to. You can:
- ask for a draft EHC plan meeting to discuss any changes
- talk to us over the phone or by email
How to check your child's draft EHC plan
At this stage there should normally be information in:
- section A, describing your child's views, interests and aspirations
- section B, explaining what your child's special educational needs are
- section C, describing your child's health needs which relate to SEND
- section D, explaining your child's care needs which relate to SEND
- section E, describing the intended outcomes for your child
- section F, describing what special educational provision is needed for your child
- section G, H1, H2, describing what provision is needed from health or social care services
Attached to the draft plan will be copies of all the reports that you and the professionals wrote about your child.
It's very important you make sure that the draft EHC plan:
- is accurate
- describes all your child's needs
- describes special educational provision for your child's needs
- has measurable outcomes for your child that you agree with
The plan should describe the provision in detail, be specific and quantified. For example, in terms of the type of staffing arrangements, hours, how often they'll provide support and their level of expertise.
Provision must be specified for each and every need in section B and it should be clear how what is provided will support your child in achieving the outcomes in the plan.
The Council for Disabled Children has a guide to EHC plans with good examples in it, including examples of needs, outcomes and provision that are clear and specific.
Independent Parental Special Educational Advice (IPSEA) has a draft EHC plan check list Go to https://www.ipsea.org.uk/Handlers/Download.ashx?IDMF=afd8d11f-5f75-44e0-8f90-e2e7385e55f0 (opens new window), which you may find helpful when you're checking the draft.
If you want to consider a personal budget
You may ask us for a personal budget including a request for direct payments at anytime when the draft plan is being prepared.
We'll identify the amount of money to deliver the special educational provision as set out in your child's Education, Health and Care Plan and the provision which a personal budget maybe available.
We cannot make direct payments for the purpose of funding a place at a school or post-16 institution.
If you request a direct payment and we decide not to make this available we will write to you with our decision, the reason for this decision, and how you can request a review of our decision if you do not agree.
Why there isn't an education setting named on the draft EHC plan
The first draft doesn't include any references to preferred schools. The 15 days we give you to comment is when you get to tell us which early years setting, school or other education institution, or college you'd prefer your child to go to for us to consider.
We will formally consult with:
- local appropriate mainstream or specialist provision in line with the ‘Decision and Moderation' groups recommendations
- your preferred school, which you have told us you would like your child to attend
Most children who have an EHC Plan go to their nearest mainstream school, which is often the one they're already at.
We'll try to send your child to your preferred school wherever possible.
If you request a draft EHC plan meeting
We'll have a meeting with you, your child and their school.
The meeting could also include:
- health professionals who work with your child
- social care staff who work with your child
- any other professionals that you, we or your child's school invite, such as specialist teachers
You can also invite a member of support services, such as SEND And You (SAY).
In this meeting, we:
- review comments from professionals who aren't able to be at the meeting
- agree long term outcomes (section E) across education, health and social care if we've not already done this
- discuss the provision that's needed for your child to achieve these outcomes and check that this is specified and quantified, so we know who will deliver the provision
The final EHC Plan
If we agree to issue an EHC plan for your child we must issue the final EHC plan within 20 weeks of you asking for an assessment.
If you're not happy with the final EHC plan you can talk to your link SEND Assessment Coordinator in the first instance or you can ask for free impartial mediation, in which will be necessary if you are still unhappy and wish to progress to a Tribunal Appeal.
View the latest EHC Plan performance data.
What happens if we decide to do an EHC needs assessment for your child and who we get information from about your child's needs.
How we assess your child's needs
We ask any professionals that have been involved with your child's education, health and social care needs for a detailed report. We ask for:
- psychological advice and information from an educational psychologist
- educational advice and information from the manager, head teacher or principal of the early years setting, school or post-16 or other institution that your child goes to
- social care advice and information from social workers, family support workers, or social care practitioners
- health advice and information from any health care professionals who support your child
- a report from a community health provider which identifies your child's health needs and the provision required to meet these needs but this is only needed if your child is known to a specific community health service (or has been known) to that service within the last 12 months
If your child has not been seen by a community health service in the last 12 months then, from April 2021, the new Associate Designated Clinical Officers will be responsible for:
- gathering the health advice from both primary and secondary care
- discussing health concerns with (whenever possible) the child, young person and their parents to ensure all health needs are accurately captured
The Associate Designated Clinical Officers will also be able to refer to other community health services should they identify that this is required.
We'll also invite you to give us any other additional information and your views about your child's needs.
The professionals provide us with a range of information, including:
- your family's history, including a summary of initial concerns
- your child's communication and interaction needs, including their strengths and long term personal outcomes
- your child's cognition and learning needs, including recommended strategies and programmes
- your child's social, emotional and mental health needs, including specific short-term personal outcomes that are
- your child's sensory and physical needs
- your child's health needs, including how they manage any diagnosed condition
- your child's social care needs, including provision such as short breaks
This can take up to six weeks.
Once we've gathered all the information, it goes to our statutory Education, Health and Social Care Needs Assessment/ EHCP Decision and Moderation Group.
This group is where a decision is made about whether your child needs provision to be made by the issuing of an EHC Plan.
How to ask for an EHC needs assessment, how we make a decision, what happens next.
If your child is getting help in education through SEND support and, despite everyone's best efforts, still isn't making progress, you can ask the council to carry out an Education, Health and Care (EHC) needs assessment.
We expect education settings to have put in place any actions and support that are identified for your child at the SEND support stage.
Who can ask for an EHC needs assessment
You or any professional working to support your child can ask for an EHC needs assessment. This could include:
- early years, school or college staff
- health and social care practitioners
- youth offending teams or probation services
- those responsible for education in custody
If your child is aged between 16 and 25 they can apply either by themselves or with support from a family member, friend or someone who supports them.
How to request an EHC needs assessment
To request an EHC needs assessment, we ask that you fill in the following documents:
- document EHC needs assessment request form (209 KB)
- document family views form (79 KB)
- document child or young person's views form 1 (255 KB) or document child or young person's views form 2 (141 KB) (the child or young person can choose which form they'd like to fill in)
You may also wish to include:
- copies of reports you've had from professionals and school within the past 12 months
- completed support plans (see our SEND support plan templates)
It's not compulsory to include any of these, but they can help support your request.
Email these forms to sen@bristol.gov.uk Go to mailto:sen@bristol.gov.uk (opens new window)
To help you fill in the forms, see:
Useful resources
You can find useful resources to help you and your child talk about hopes, dreams and aspirations on Children and young people's outcomes framework.
The Council for Disabled Children has videos about:
- EHC plans and the Person Centred Connection Go to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jsnQEAyP8Rk&t=12s (opens new window)
- Education, Health and Social Care plans Go to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=axMjmY1-7WU (opens new window)
Help with requesting an EHC needs assessment
The assessment team will support you if you have questions about how to request an EHC needs assessment. Call 0117 922 3700.
Bristol's Special Educational Needs and Disability Information Advice and Support Service, SEND And You (SAY) Go to http://www.sendandyou.org.uk/ (opens new window), can give you free, confidential advice about filling in the form.
What happens after you ask for an EHC needs assessment
Once we get your request for an EHC needs assessment, we'll email you to tell you we've got it. We have up to 6 weeks to give you a written decision about whether we'll do an EHC needs assessment.
The process:
- We record your EHC needs assessment request.
- We email you, the parent or carer, the young person, health and social care services and the young person's education setting to tell you we've got the request.
- We contact you within 6 weeks of getting your request to tell you our decision.
How we make a decision
We'll look at your request to see if there is evidence that the child or young person:
- may have a special educational need, and
- may need specialist help to meet these needs through an EHCP
We expect education settings to:
- have put in place any actions and support the child or young person's needs
- monitor the impact of any support put in place for the child or young person
- provide clear evidence from information gathered through the Assess, Plan, Do and Review cycle
Information gathered through the Assess, Plan, Do and Review cycle may show that despite everyone’s best efforts significant progress has not been sustained by the child or young person.
If we decide to do an EHC needs assessment
If we agree that an EHC needs assessment would be helpful, we'll have 6 weeks to get information about your child or young person from professionals linked to them.
Find out more about what an EHC assessment involves.
If we decide not to do an EHC needs assessment
If we decide not to carry out an EHC needs assessment, we'll send you a letter which will explain why. You and your child will continue to get support from the education setting through SEND support.
We've made a guide to Ordinarily Available Provision (OAP).
This guide sets out the provision that we expect to be made for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) in Bristol schools.
OAP should be made in all Bristol schools or educational settings, for children who receive SEND support.
If you would like free impartial information and advice, you can contact SEND and You, the local SENDIASS (SEND Information, Advice and Support Service).
They provide free, confidential, and impartial advice for parent and carers, their child and young people aged 16 to 25 years about SEND.
You have the right to appeal if you disagree with our decision not to do an EHC needs assessment. Find out more on Guide to resolving disagreements about SEND provision.
If you need support with this, email support@sendandyou.org.uk
See the pdf Decision and Moderation Group's terms of reference (98 KB) .
What an EHC Needs Assessments is.
Most children and young people with special educational needs or disabilities will have their needs met by the usual resources available in mainstream early years settings, schools, colleges, or health services.
An EHC needs assessment is an assessment of a child or young person’s education, health and care needs.
It’s a detailed exploration to find out what your child's special educational needs are and what provision needs be put in place to meet them.
The EHC needs assessment is the step before an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP).
The assessment does not always lead to an EHCP being written
Read our pdf Easy Read guide on what is an EHC needs assessment (1.20 MB) .
When is an education, health and care needs assessment necessary
If your child's educational setting, health practitioner or social worker has concerns and thinks an assessment is needed, they'll give you their reasons.
The needs assessment shouldn't be first step in assessing your child or young person's needs.
It'll normally follow on from planning already done with parents or as a young person, with help from an education provider, as well as health and social care services. This is known as the graduated approach.
If your child’s educational setting, health practitioner or social worker has concerns and thinks an assessment is needed, they’ll give you their reasons.
Find information about how to make an application for an EHC needs assessment.
You can also find information about what happens during an EHC needs assessment.
What an EHC plan is used for, what it means for you and your child, and how it's set out.
An Education, Health and Care plan is a legal personalised document.
It sets out the education, health and social care needs of a child or young person:
- aged 0 to 25 years old with special educational needs or disabilities
- who needs more support in their educational setting beyond the usual resource they provide
They replace Statements of SEN and Learning Disability Assessments.
The plan will focus on what the child or young person wants to achieve and what's needed to achieve those outcomes.
Families and professionals work together to consider the outcomes they would like to see and how best to meet them.
The plan focuses on making sure children can access education, training, health and care services. This helps them to reach their individual potential and be fully prepared for adult life.
Read our pdf Easy Read guide on what is an EHC plan (1.95 MB) .
Does your child need an EHC plan
If your child does not have educational needs, they won't need an EHC plan. Your child's social care needs will be met through a care plan. Your child's health needs will be met through a health care plan.
If you think your child is eligible for an EHC plan, they must have had an Education, Health and Care (EHC) needs assessment.
The EHC Needs Assessment is a legal procedure for identifying your child's special educational needs and deciding if they require extra support.
An EHC Needs Assessment doesn't always lead to a EHC plan being written.
What EHC plans must include
EHC plans must include certain information, which must be set out in the following separate sections:
- Section A: The views, interests and aspirations of the child or young person
- Section B: The child's or young person's Special Educational Needs
- Section C: Any health needs relating to their SEND
- Section D: Any social care needs relating to their SEND
- Section E: The intended outcomes for the child or young person, which should be joined across education, health and social care where appropriate
- Section F: What special educational provision is needed for the child or young person's SEND
- Section G, H1, H2: What provision is needed from health or social care services
- Section I: Name and type of education placement
- Section J: Details of any agreed personal budgets
- Section K: Advice and information gathered through the EHC needs assessment
The SEND Code of Practice (from page 164) describes what's included in each section of the EHC Plan in detail.
The Children and Families Act 2014 (section 37) describes what an EHC plan is and what it must include.
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