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The EHC assessment

The purpose of an education, health and care (EHC) needs assessment is to get a good rounded picture of your child or young person's education, health and care needs to decide whether or not your child or young person requires an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) to support their needs.

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. 

Who provides information about my child as part of the assessment?

Once the assessment has been agreed, your Children's Advice and Information Officer (CIAO) from the Statutory Assessment Team will be your main point of contact. They will get in touch with you to explain the next steps of the process. They will share all the information with you, provide regular updates, let you know what advice has been sought from professionals and when this has been received.  

If you do not know who your CIAO is, you can contact the team at ehcneedsassessment@hertfordshire.gov.uk. 

Information:

You can ask your CIAO for additional support if you require help such as translated documents or because you may have additional needs.


 Your Children's Advice and Information Officer will gather:

  • information and advice on your child or young person’s needs,
  • the outcomes expected to be achieved by your child or young person,
  • the provision required to meet those needs. 

Professionals from education, health or social care services who have worked with your child may be asked to provide advice. We'll ask people based on the list set out in Regulation 6(1) of the Special Educational Needs and Disability Regulations 2014: 

List (A-H) of who should be asked for information (SEND Regs)

A- the child’s parent or the young person

B- educational advice (usually from the head teacher or principal)

C- medical advice and information from a health care professional

D- psychological advice and information from an educational psychologist

E- advice and information in relation to social care

F- advice and information from any other person the local authority thinks appropriate

G- where the child or young person is in or beyond year 9, advice and information in relation to provision to assist the child or young person in preparation for adulthood and independent living

H- advice and information from any person the child’s parent or young person reasonably requests that the local authority seek advice from.

We're required to seek all of this information (A-H) as a minimum. You should also be asked by your Children's Advice and Information Officer (CIAO) about other people who could provide information.

Once professionals have been approached by us they have a duty to provide information within 6 weeks.

What should the information and advice contain? 

Advice and information must be:

  • clear, accessible and specific
  • address the child or young person’s needs
  • and the outcomes which this provision will aim to achieve
  • describe the special educational provision required to meet those needs and achieve those outcomes

Professionals should share the advice they are providing us with parents and/or the young person. If the advice does not adequately address needs, provision and outcomes then you can challenge the professionals directly and ask them to change it.

Information:

Existing reports or advice

If you've got existing advice or reports these can be submitted for consideration as part of the assessment process, as long as:

  • they are relatively up to date (a 2 year old report for example is probably not useful)
  • they reflect the child or young person’s current needs accurately
  • everyone (the person providing the advice, you and/or the young person, and us (Hertfordshire County Council)) is satisfied it’s enough.

 

This is Me - the child/young person's views

‘This is Me’ is the form we use across the SEND partnership in Hertfordshire to support children and young people in telling their story. 

We ask all children and young people to complete the ‘This is Me’ form, with the support of their families and the professionals who know them well.  The information on the 'This is Me' form is used to carefully ensure Section A of the EHCP is completed by professionals and accurately reflects the views and aspirations of the child or young person. 

Section A is usually split into two parts:

  • a part for the parent / carer
  • a part for the child or young person to complete. 

Remember that the views of the child/young person can be given in any way they can, e.g., video (please include transcript), drawings, photos with explanations etc.  Be as creative as you like and do not let writing be a barrier to completion. This is the child/young person's plan, so it's very important we have their views.

'This is Me' form

This form and guidance was co-produced with children and young people. 
Forms should be sent to ehcneedsassessment@hertfordshire.gov.uk. 

'This is me' form with guidance and consent (Word 107kb)
'This is Me' forms for screenreaders, children with communication difficulties, and feedback forms

Form accessible to screen-readers

'This is Me' form accessible to screen-readers (word doc 58kb)
'This is Me' form - completion guidance accessible to screen-readers (word doc 60kb)

Children and young people with communication difficuties
Completion guidance for children/young people with communication difficulties (pdf 824kb)
Feedback form for children/young people with communication difficulties (pdf 595kb)

Feedback surveys
When you receive the completed plan or annual review paperwork your pack will include a leaflet which has links for both you and your child to complete a short survey detailing your experiences of the SEN service.  By completing this you will help us continue to improve surveys for our families.  If you have not had one of these and would like your child / young person to feed back on the annual review process, they can complete the feedback survey online. 

If we decide not to issue an EHCP

If we decide that an EHCP is not necessary, we'll notify the child’s parent and/or the young person, the early years provider, school or post-16 institution currently attended, and the health service, giving the reasons for that decision.

This notification must take place within 16 weeks of the initial request for an EHC needs assessment. 

We'll also inform you of:

  • the time limit for doing so

The SEND Implementation and Support Officers (SISOs) will work with you and the school to make sure additional needs are supported and that adaptations and reasonable adjustments are all in place.  

If you're unhappy with the decision not to issue an EHCP, you can exercise your right to appeal.  
Find out more about what to do if you're not happy with a decision. 

Information:

You can also contact SENDIASS  for impartial information and advice on issues relating to SEND including EHCPs.

If an EHC assessment results in an EHCP

The Draft EHCP

If we decide to issue an EHCP, the first step is for us to send you a draft plan. At this stage of the process your main point of contact will become your named EHC Coordinator. They will put together the draft plan which will include information about your child or young person’s education, health and care needs, the outcomes that should be achieved and the provision required to meet those needs and achieve the outcomes. It’s also a record of your child or young person’s views and ambitions. 

Your plan will look like this (pdf 316kb) 

Information:

Where the child or young person is in or beyond year 9 the EHCP must also include provision needed to assist in preparation for adulthood.

You'll be given time to review and comment on the draft plan. The Statutory Assessment Team work together with you to agree the plan before the final EHCP is issued.

When issuing the draft, we'll give notice that the parent or young person has 15 days to:

  • request that a particular setting is named in the final plan (Read more about requesting a special school place.)
  • make comments or suggest amendments to the draft EHCP or any reports attached to it
  • request a meeting with us to discuss the draft

Meetings to discuss the draft EHCP

  • Before the meeting, write down the points you want to discuss and any questions you have
  • Send a copy to your EHC Coordinator prior to the meeting, or leave a copy as a reminder to them
  • Consider taking someone along with you for support

Support for checking your draft EHCP

EHCPs can sometimes be long and complicated documents. Checking your draft matches the legal requirements can feel like a difficult and overwhelming task, but there are services that can support you.

  • The EHCP good standards guidance (pdf 182kb) has been created for families so they can see what a good EHCP looks like. It offers an overview of the information that should be included in an EHCP. 
  • Contact SENDIASS for help checking your draft EHCP.
  • SOS!SEN - offers a free, friendly, independent and confidential telephone helpline for parents and others looking for information and advice on Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND). 0300 302 3731
  • The charity IPSEA has produced a useful EHCP checklist that can be used to check whether your draft EHCP complies with the law. Also offers an advice line and events and workshops throughout the year as an opportunity to learn more about EHCPs.

The Final EHCP

Once the final EHCP has been produced, your child or young person is legally entitled to the provision set out in the plan. At this stage, your child or young person's plan will transfer to one of 5 teams overseeing the annual review process. A member of the Statutory Assessment Team will inform you who your new EHC Coordinator is. They will then be your contact at the council until the next phase of your child's education. If you're not sure who your EHC Coordinator is, visit the 'Who Should I Contact about my child's EHCP?' page. 

Once your child has an EHCP, you will need to request their school (mainstream or special) or type of provision through the EHCP process, rather than the usual admissions process. Your request will be taken into consideration alongside the relevant legislation and guidance, before a school or setting is named in the final plan. Once named, the setting must then admit the child or young person and put the educational provision specified in the EHCP into place.  Sometimes, if you have requested a place at a special school, a place may not be immediately available. Read more about the support available to your child whilst waiting for a place to become available.

Information:

The final plan must be issued within a maximum of 20 weeks from the request for an EHC needs assessment.

If you do not receive your final plan within this time frame, you have the right to complain.  We encourage you to speak to your named contact in the first instance as they will be best placed to provide you with an update.