What is an Education, Health and Care Plan?
Most children and young people with SEND will be supported within their mainstream early year setting, school or college through the Graduated Response and Quality First Teaching, with targeted and personalised support. All schools have “notional funding” to allow them to do this. The Local Authority has provided additional funding to help schools meet needs more quickly.
If a parent or carer thinks that their child/young person has SEND, parents / carers should:
- talk to the class teacher/tutor in the first instance
- arrange a meeting with the school/setting SENDCo (Special Educational Needs and Disabilities Co-ordinator) to discuss concerns and potential support
However, if your child or young person is not making the expected progress, despite the Graduated Response and all reasonable attempts by the educational setting and professionals to meet your child’s needs, you or the setting can request an Education, Health and Care Needs Assessment (EHCNA).
Visit the Local Offer for more information about EHC Needs Assessments.
1. Requesting an Assessment
You can request an EHCNA by completing one of the forms below:
- If you are a parent or young person over 16, please use this form: Parental EHCNA Form
Professionals can also request an assessment on your behalf. Professionals cannot request an assessment without the parent/carer’s (of the young person’s if they are over 16) consent. Professionals EHCNA Request Form
If you are requesting an EHCNA, then you will also need to complete the All About Me section of the request; this is the summary of your views, wishes and hopes.
If you need help with completing the All about Me section, please see the separate All about Me template(DOCX 9.74KB)
– the guidance for children up to and including Year 8(DOCX 163.37KB)
– the guidance for young people Year 9 and above(DOCX 130.71KB).
Once you have made the request, the Local Authority has 6 weeks to decide whether or not to assess and to inform you of this decision.
2. Decision on whether to Assess
After receiving the request from yourself or the school, the Local Authority Multi-Agency Panel (i.e. the SEND Panel) will look at it and any information that comes with it. If they agree that an assessment is needed, you will be contacted by the SEND Service within 6 weeks. For more information about the EHCNA process, please see section 3.
If the decision is that an assessment is not needed, you will be contacted by the SEND Service and offered a Next Steps Meeting to discuss what else can be done to support you or your child.
If you have any new information about your child, you can let the SEND Service know or you can share it at the Next Steps Meeting.
Sutton Information, Advice and Support Service can offer help and advice:
| Sutton Information, Advice and Support (IAS) Service |
| 0208 323 0462 |
| sutton@siass.co.uk |
If you are a parent/carer of a child or young person 0-25 in Sutton and need information, advice, or support in understanding your legal rights or how the SEND system works please contact Sutton Information Advice and Support Service. SIASS provides free, impartial, and confidential information and advice on all SEND matters and can signpost to other services that might help families so please do get in touch if you need help or advice on anything SEND related”
If you disagree with the decision or would like it explained to you, the SEND Service will be happy to meet with you. There is also a Mediation Service, which aims to resolve disagreements. Further details are available from Global Mediation (external link).
Once you have spoken with the Mediation Service, you can also appeal against the decision to the Special Educational Needs and Disability Tribunal (SENDIST). You have two months to appeal from the date that you receive the letter with the decision not to assess. Your right to appeal is not affected by having further discussions with the SEND Service, with SIASS or going to mediation. Please visit the SENDIST Website (external link) for more information.
3. The Assessment Process
If the assessment takes place, the different professionals involved with your child will be asked for their advice. There may also need to be more assessments from different professionals.
You will have a chance to meet with some of the people involved at a Planning Meeting. This is so that you can talk about the strengths and needs of your child, the advice that the professionals have given and discuss what the outcomes for your child should be.
Within 16 weeks of you making the request, the Local Authority will decide whether to issue an EHC Plan.
4. Decision on whether to issue an EHC Plan
If the SEND Panel agrees that an EHC Plan is needed, then the SEND Service will contact you and send you a draft version of the Plan. You will then have 15 days to review it and discuss with the SEND Service any changes that you think need to be made. During this time the Local Authority will also talk with educational settings to find a placement for you or your child as it may need to be different to the one that they are currently in.
If it is decided that a plan is not required, then the SEND Service will contact you to tell you this. They will offer you a Next Steps Meeting with the school, and other professionals if needed, so that the information from the assessment can be used to develop support for your child.
Sutton Information, Advice and Support Service can offer help and advice:
| Sutton Information, Advice and Support (IAS) Service |
| 0208 323 0462 |
| sutton@siass.co.uk |
If you disagree with the decision or the contents of the Plan, or would like it explained to you, the SEND Service will be happy to meet with you. There is also a Mediation Service, which aims to resolve disagreements. Further details are available from Global Mediation (external link).
Once you have spoken with the Mediation Service, you can also appeal against the decision to the Special Educational Needs and Disability Tribunal (SENDIST). You have two months to appeal from the date that you receive the letter with the decision not to issue an EHCP. Your right to appeal is not affected by having further discussions with the SEND Service, SIASS or going to mediation. Please visit the SENDIST Website (external link) for more information.
Following Sutton Parent Carers Forum (SPCF) Steering Group stepping down as your local strategic parent carer forum in Sutton, the London Borough of Sutton is working with Contact (an independent organisation set up to support Parent Carer Forums nationally) to seek new arrangements to represent children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities and their parents and carers.
If you are a parent / carer of a child with SEND and are interested in finding out more about what a Parent Carer Forum is and how you can get involved please get in touch with the Lara O’Connell who is the supporting this work by email lara.oconnell@contact.org.uk