How to Apply for an EHCP: Step-by-Step Guide (England)

Applying for an EHCP starts with a request for an EHC needs assessment to your local authority. Here is who can request one, how to do it, the eligibility test, what happens next, and your options if the council refuses. EHCPs apply in England.

Who can request an EHC needs assessment?

A request can be made by:

A parent or carer of the child.
The young person themselves, if they are aged 16 to 25.
The child or young person's school, college or other setting.

These routes are independent of one another. A parent or young person can apply directly to the local authority and does not need the school to agree or to make the request on their behalf.

How do you request one?

You make the request in writing to your local authority, normally addressed to its SEND team. There is no single national form, so a clear letter or email stating that you are requesting an EHC needs assessment is enough. Many families also include a short summary of the child's needs and the support that has been tried so far. Your council's Local Offer (the information every local authority must publish about the SEND support and services available locally) sets out the local process and gives you the right contact details. You can find your council and its Local Offer via GOV.UK.

What is the eligibility test?

The test is needs-based, not diagnosis-based. The local authority must consider whether the child or young person may have special educational needs and whether it may be necessary for special educational provision to be made through an EHC plan. A diagnosis is not required, and there is no statutory minimum number of rounds or terms of SEN Support that must be tried before a request can be made. If you are unsure whether your situation meets the test, the charity IPSEA sets out the lawful threshold and offers free, independent advice.

What happens after you apply?

Once your local authority receives the request, the statutory clock starts. The council must decide whether to carry out an assessment and, where appropriate, work through the assessment and issue a plan within an overall 20-week period, with intermediate deadlines along the way. Our EHCP timeline guide walks through each milestone, and the EHCP deadline tracker lets you work out your own dates from the day you applied.

What if the council refuses to assess?

If the local authority decides not to carry out an EHC needs assessment, that is not the end of the road. You have the right to challenge it, and most families who appeal succeed.

First, you can ask the council to reconsider

You can write to the council asking it to look at the decision again and setting out why you believe an assessment is needed. This sometimes works. Importantly, asking the council to reconsider does not pause your appeal deadline, so protect your right to appeal at the same time (see below).

Show a template reconsideration letter

[Your name]
[Your address]

[Today's date]

To: [Council name] SEND Team

Dear SEND Team,

Re: request for an EHC needs assessment for [Child's name], date of birth [Child's date of birth]

I'm writing because I've received your decision not to carry out an EHC needs assessment for [Child's name], and I'd like to ask you to reconsider.

As I understand it, the test is whether my child has or may have special educational needs, and whether they may need support through an EHC plan. I believe both are met. In short: [briefly describe your child's needs and why the support they get now isn't enough, for example difficulties with learning, communication, social or emotional needs, or sensory or physical needs, and what has already been tried].

I'd be really grateful if you'd look at the decision again. To protect my position, I'm also contacting a mediation adviser so I can appeal to the SEND Tribunal if we can't resolve things, but I'm hopeful we can sort this out directly.

Could you let me know as soon as possible whether you will reconsider? Thank you for your time and your help.

Kind regards,
[Your name]

Replace the bracketed details with your own, then send it. This is a template, not legal advice.

Appealing to the SEND Tribunal

To appeal, you first contact a mediation adviser to get a mediation certificate. You do not have to go ahead with mediation itself, but you need the certificate to register your appeal (appeals only about the school named in a plan, known as a Section I appeal, are exempt from this step). You then lodge your appeal with the First-tier Tribunal (SEND). Appealing is free.

The deadline is two months from the date of the council's decision letter, or one month from the date of the mediation certificate, whichever is later. The deadline tracker's appeal mode works these dates out for you.

Show appeal-grounds wording

Grounds of appeal: refusal to carry out an EHC needs assessment

[Child's name], date of birth [Child's date of birth]

I am appealing the local authority's decision not to carry out an EHC needs assessment.

The legal test (section 36(8) of the Children and Families Act 2014) is whether the child or young person has or may have special educational needs, and whether they may need special educational provision to be made through an EHC plan. This is a low, forward-looking threshold: the question is whether an assessment may be necessary, not whether a plan is certain. The local authority cannot apply conditions that are not in the law.

I believe the test is met because: [set out your child's needs and the evidence, for example reports from school or other professionals, what SEN Support has already been tried, and why you believe their needs may call for provision through an EHC plan].

For these reasons, I ask the Tribunal to order the local authority to carry out an EHC needs assessment.

Specialist advice on presenting appeal grounds is available from IPSEA (ipsea.org.uk).

Adapt this wording for your appeal. This is a template, not legal advice.

You can read about appealing on GOV.UK, and IPSEA offers free advice and its own model letters.