Requesting an assessment

Before a request for an EHC assessment is made, your child or young person's school would normally have a support plan in place. This would show how they have identified your child's needs, what strategies and interventions are being used to support your child, and what impact these have made. This is called SEN Support (or 'ordinarily available support').

If, in spite of the additional support, your child is still not making expected progress, your child may need a statutory education, health and care (EHC) assessment to work out what extra help they need and, if necessary, to record this extra help in a legally binding education, health and care plan (EHCP).

The Statutory Assessment Team are responsible for managing the EHC assessment process at Hertfordshire County Council. If you have a query which your SENCo is unable to answer, you can contact the team by calling 01442 453300 or emailing ehcneedsassessment@hertfordshire.gov.uk.

How to make a request for an EHC assessment
Preparing to make a request for an EHC assessment
After you've submitted a request
If we decide to carry out a statutory EHC assessment
If we decide not to carry out an EHC assessment

How to make a request for an EHC assessment

You can make a request however you wish, however, we provide a standard form which helps our officers to handle information efficiently.

You can download a form and return to the SEND team at the email address shown at the bottom of the form. The should fill in the relevant form based on the age your child is when you start the application.

Request an EHC assessment for ages 0 - 15 (Word doc 61kb)

Request an EHC assessment for a young person aged 16+ (Word doc 59kb)

This is me - views of the child or young person

Alongside your request for assessment, you will also need to submit the 'This is me' form for your child or young person, with the consent form.

This is Me - forms and guidance

You need to send the completed forms by email to:

Ehcneedsassessment@hertfordshire.gov.uk

EHC assessment forms - accessible PDFs

If you need a form you can use and fill in with a screenreader, you can use these PDFS:

EHC assessment request form (723kb) Opening a new window

EHC assessment request form for young people (Aged 16 - 25) (PDF 795kb) Opening a new window

Information:

EHCP Assessment at a Glance (pdf 222kb) tells you all you need to know about the EHC needs assessment process - from the point of submitting a request for assessment up until the final plan.

Who can make a request?

Parents of children and young people aged 0-24

As a parent of a child or young person with SEND, you can make a request for an EHC assessment on their behalf. This includes children aged between 0 - 5 who may not have started attending any early years setting or school.

Young people aged 16 - 25

Young people aged between 16- 25 can make a request for an EHC assessment themselves. However, if your young person struggles to understand, remember or communicate decisions about the educational support they need, then as their parent or carer you can make the request on their behalf.

Children and young people in custody

Children and young people under 19 in youth custodial establishments also have the right to request an EHC assessment. The child's parent, the young person or professionals working with them can ask the local authority (LA) to conduct an EHC needs assessment while they are still detained.

Early years settings, schools or colleges

Early years practitioners, school or college staff can also request an EHC assessment on behalf of a child or young person. Ideally this should be done with the knowledge and agreement of the parent of the child or young person and/or the young person.

Carers and professionals

Additionally, foster carers and health and social care professionals can bring a child or young person who has (or may have) SEND to our (Hertfordshire County Council's) attention, particularly if they think an EHC assessment may be necessary. This also should be done ideally with the knowledge and agreement of the parent of the child or young person and/or the young person.

Preparing to make a request for an EHC assessment

If you’re concerned that your child or young person isn’t making expected progress at school, speak to their class teacher or the SENCo at school. They can ask for advice from the SEND Implementation Support team at the local authority to make sure the right strategies and interventions are in place.

If it is decided that, in spite of the extra support in place, your child is still not making progress, the next step might be to request an EHC assessment. To do this, it's helpful if you work with the SENCo to gather the evidence needed to support your request.

What evidence should be included in the request?
It is helpful for us to have as much information as possible about your child in order that we can make an informed decision. This might include:

evidence of your child or young person’s academic attainment (or developmental milestones in younger children) and rate of progress.
Information about your child or young person’s SEND, including physical, emotional and social development and health needs, drawing on evidence from health professionals, and including any relevant reports.
Evidence of the action already being taken by the educational setting to meet your child or young person’s SEND. We would normally expect to see at least 2 terms of evidence showing the strategies in place and the impact of these on your child's progress.
Evidence that where progress has been made, it has only been as the result of additional intervention and support over and above what is usually provided.
Where a young person is aged over 18 we'll consider whether they'll need extra time (in comparison to others of the same age who do not have SEND) to complete their education or training.

Information:

For children not attending school

If your child or young person doesn't attend an educational setting, you could speak to your health visitor, GP, social worker, or get in touch with Hertfordshire's SENDIASS. When submitting your request, it is helpful if you can provide evidence of their needs, details of any support they've received from specialist services or professionals (including relevant reports) and examples of strategies you've tried at home and what is/ isn't working for your child.

You could also get in touch with local parent support groups and chat with other parents who have already gone through the process.

After you've submitted a request

Once an EHC assessment request has been submitted, you will be assigned a Children's Information and Advice Officer (CIAO). They will oversee the assessment process. They will liaise with you and the school to make sure that all the evidence is in place for the local authority to make an informed decision about whether an assessment is needed.

How we decide if an EHC assessment is needed

The Local Multi Agency Panel (LMAG) will look at evidence that shows that despite the educational setting having taken action to support the needs of the child or young person with SEND, they still have not made the expected progress.

We'll make a decision whether or not to carry out an EHC assessment and communicate that decision within 6 weeks of receiving the request.

If we decide to carry out a statutory EHC assessment

If we decide to carry out an assessment, your Children's Information and Advice Officer (CIAO) will contact you to explain the next steps of the process. They will identify what additional information is needed and contact any relevant professionals.

What to expect from the assessment process.

If we decide not to carry out an EHC assessment

If we decide not to carry out an assessment, we'll give our reasons for this. It might be that the panel decide, from the evidence given, that they are satisfied that the right support is in place for your child to make progress at school.

You'll be contacted by a SEND Implementation and Support Officer (SISO) who will work with you and the school through an Implementation and Support Meeting to make sure additional needs are supported and that adaptations and reasonable adjustments are all in place. If, through this, we receive additional information or concern, this will be taken back to the Local Multi Agency Panel for reconsideration. If things change you can apply again.

If we decide not to carry out an EHC assessment, you have the right to appeal. When we contact you with the decision, we will give you information and guidance on how to appeal and which services to contact for support.

What if I'm not happy with a decision?

Page was last updated on: 01/08/2025 09:24:48