FREE SEND GUIDE

How to Apply for an EHCP: A Step-by-Step Guide for Parents

For parents and carers in England. Legal sources checked: 19 October 2026.

If your child is struggling at school and the support they are receiving does not seem to be enough, you may start wondering whether they need an Education, Health and Care Plan — usually called an EHCP.

The process can feel daunting, particularly when you're already dealing with meetings, emails, reports and trying to support your child.

So start with the basics.

You do not actually begin by “applying for an EHCP”. The first formal step is to request an Education, Health and Care (EHC) needs assessment from your local authority. Parents can make this request themselves; you do not have to wait for your child's school to do it.

What is an EHCP?

An Education, Health and Care Plan is a legal document for children and young people up to age 25 who need more support than is available through ordinary special educational needs support.

It identifies the child’s or young person’s educational, health and social care needs and sets out the additional support required to meet those needs.

An EHCP is not simply a diagnosis document. The process looks at your child’s needs and the provision required to meet them.

Step 1: Look at what is happening now

Before worrying about forms and formal terminology, build a clear picture of your child’s current situation.

Think about:

What is your child finding difficult?
How are their difficulties affecting learning or access to education?
What support is currently being provided?
What has already been tried?
What has helped?
What hasn’t been enough?
What are professionals recommending?
What is your child telling you about their experience?

You don’t need to create a perfect dossier before you can raise concerns or request help. But keeping information together can make it much easier to explain the overall picture.

Still working out what you are seeing? Our first-step school struggles guide can help you begin recording concerns and talking to school.

Step 2: Gather the evidence you already have

If you decide to request an EHC needs assessment, start gathering the information you already hold.

This might include:

school reports
SEN support plans
provision maps
attendance information
assessments or reports from professionals
relevant health information
emails or meeting notes
your own observations
your child’s views

Don’t panic if you don’t have every possible type of report.

You’re trying to show a clear picture of your child’s needs, the support that has been tried and why further assessment may be necessary.

Our EHCP application evidence guide explains how to describe needs, educational impact and support already tried.

Step 3: Request an EHC needs assessment

You can make the request directly to your local authority.

Your council’s Local Offer should explain where an EHC needs assessment request should be sent and whether it has a particular form or process.

When you submit your request, keep a copy and keep evidence of the date it was received.

That date matters because it starts the statutory timetable.

Use the free editable request letter below if you would like a starting point.

FREE EDITABLE EXAMPLE • ENGLAND

Free EHCP Needs Assessment Request Letter Template

You can request an EHC needs assessment yourself. You do not need school permission, and the school does not have to submit the request for you. It can still be helpful to discuss your concerns with the SENCO and ask for supporting information.

Send your request to your home local authority using the contact details in its Local Offer. A council may offer a form or online portal, but using its particular form is not a legal requirement for a valid request. Keep a copy and evidence of when it was received.

The legal assessment test: section 36(8)

The local authority must assess if, after considering the views and evidence, it is of the opinion that:

your child has or may have special educational needs; and
it may be necessary for special educational provision to be made through an EHC plan.

This is the test for an assessment, not a requirement to prove in advance that an EHCP will definitely be issued. A diagnosis, a fixed period of SEN Support or a particular professional report is not a mandatory condition of requesting an assessment.

See IPSEA’s explanation of the assessment test and section 36 of the Children and Families Act 2014.

Edit your example request letter

Replace the bracketed placeholders with your own details. Only include information that is true for your child. You can edit this box or copy the example into your own document. This is general guidance, not an individual legal assessment.

Your edits are not saved or submitted by this website. Copy your letter before leaving or refreshing this page, and send it yourself to your local authority.

[Parent/carer full name]
[Postal address]
[Email address and optional telephone number]
[Date]

To: [SEND team / Director of Children's Services]
[Local authority name and contact address]

Subject: Request for an EHC needs assessment for [child's full name], born [date of birth]

Dear [name / SEND team],

I am writing as [child's name]'s parent to request an Education, Health and Care (EHC) needs assessment under section 36(1) of the Children and Families Act 2014.

My child's details:
Full name: [child's full name]
Date of birth: [date of birth]
Home address: [child's address]
School or setting and year group: [details, or explain if not currently attending a setting]

I believe my child has or may have special educational needs, and that it may be necessary for special educational provision to be made through an EHC plan.

Special educational needs and educational impact:
[Describe the needs you have noticed, including any areas that have not yet been assessed. Explain how these affect learning, communication, participation or access to education. Give relevant examples and your child's views where possible.]

Why provision through an EHC plan may be necessary:
[Explain the support your child may need, what has already been tried where relevant, what difference it has made, and what remains difficult. Explain why you believe an assessment is needed to identify the provision required and why provision may need to be secured through an EHC plan.]

Supporting information:
[List the evidence you are including, if available, such as your observations, school correspondence, support plans or reports. If you do not have reports, explain what information is currently available. Do not delay solely to obtain a diagnosis or a particular report.]

Please consider this request using the assessment test in section 36(8) of the Children and Families Act 2014.

Please acknowledge this request in writing, confirm the date it was received and tell me who will be my contact. Please notify me of your decision within the statutory six-week time limit, unless a lawful exception applies.

Yours sincerely,
[Parent/carer full name]

Optional: the EHCP Evidence Organiser on Etsy can help keep your supporting information together. No purchase is needed to use this letter or request an assessment.

Two illustrative examples of educational impact

These are fictional examples, not legal requirements, required wording or guarantees of an assessment or EHCP. Use your own observations; your child’s experience may be very different.

Example 1: understanding instructions and accessing learning

“My child often cannot follow whole-class spoken instructions. They need an adult to break tasks into smaller steps and check their understanding. Without this, they may not begin the task and miss opportunities to learn. Visual instructions have helped, but these difficulties continue.”

Example 2: sensory distress and participation

“Busy, noisy spaces can leave my child overwhelmed. They sometimes leave lessons or struggle to enter the classroom, so they miss teaching and activities with other children. A quieter arrival and planned breaks have helped, but they are still finding it difficult to access the school day.”

Step 4: The local authority decides whether to assess

Once your local authority receives the request, it must normally tell you its decision about whether it will carry out an EHC needs assessment within six weeks.

There are two broad possibilities:

The local authority agrees to assess

The EHC needs assessment process continues and information will be gathered about your child’s needs and the support they require.

The local authority refuses to assess

This isn’t necessarily the end of the road. Parents have rights to challenge certain local-authority decisions, including a decision not to carry out an assessment.

If this happens, read the decision letter carefully and consider getting independent SEND advice about your particular circumstances.

Step 5: The EHC needs assessment

If the local authority agrees to assess, it gathers information about your child’s education, health and care needs.

Parents and the child or young person contribute to this process, alongside relevant professionals.

This stage is about building a fuller picture of:

Needs → Outcomes → Provision

Try to keep copies of reports, correspondence and recommendations as you go rather than relying on yourself to remember everything later.

Step 6: The decision about whether to issue an EHCP

Following the assessment, the local authority decides whether an EHC plan is necessary.

If it decides not to issue a plan after carrying out the assessment, it must normally inform the parent or young person within 16 weeks of the original request.

If it decides that an EHCP is necessary, it will prepare a draft plan.

Receiving an assessment does not automatically mean an EHCP will be issued.

Step 7: Check the draft EHCP carefully

If a draft EHCP is produced, don’t feel you need to read it in five minutes and immediately respond.

Parents must have at least 15 days to comment on the draft, including requesting a particular school or specialist college.

Look carefully at whether the plan accurately describes your child’s needs and whether the provision is clear enough to understand what support should be provided, by whom and how often.

Keep a copy of the draft and your response.

If you are exploring whether special educational provision can appropriately be made in a school, our EOTAS guide explains the separate legal conditions. Requesting an assessment does not automatically establish entitlement to EOTAS.

How long should the EHCP process take?

The whole process — from the local authority receiving the request for an EHC needs assessment to issuing a final EHCP, where one is issued — should normally take no more than 20 weeks, although there are limited statutory exceptions.

WEEK 0
Request received
BY WEEK 6
Decision whether to assess
BY WEEK 16
If assessed but no plan will be issued, decision communicated
BY WEEK 20
Final EHCP issued where a plan is being made

These are calendar weeks, not school weeks, and the draft response period is at least 15 calendar days. The six-, 16- and 20-week limits have specific statutory exceptions; a general backlog does not by itself create an exception. If the council says an exception applies, ask it to explain which one and why.

Actual experiences can sometimes be longer, but delay is not automatically lawful. Keep your own record of dates and seek independent advice if a deadline is missed. See the SEND Regulations on the six-week assessment decision, 16-week refusal-to-issue decision and draft response period and 20-week final plan deadline.

Do I need the school to agree before I request an EHCP assessment?

No.

A parent can ask the local authority to carry out an EHC needs assessment themselves. After compulsory school age, the right to request normally belongs to the young person, up to age 25, subject to the rules on mental capacity.

It can still be useful to talk to your child’s SENCO or school and gather information about the support currently being provided, but you don’t have to wait indefinitely for somebody else to make the request for you.

What evidence do I need for an EHCP application?

For more detail, read What evidence should I include with an EHCP request?

There isn’t one magic document that makes an application successful.

Instead, try to build a clear picture across several areas:

Your child’s needs

What are they finding difficult?

The impact

How are those needs affecting their education and everyday experience?

Support already tried

What has the school or setting put in place?

What happened

Did the support work? Was it enough?

Professional evidence

What needs or recommendations have professionals identified?

Your child’s views

What are they experiencing and what do they say helps?

Your views as their parent or carer

What are you seeing outside school, and what concerns do you have?

The aim isn’t to create the biggest pile of paperwork possible. It’s to make the important information easy to see.

If you’re at the very beginning

You don’t need to understand the entire SEND system today.

Start by asking yourself:

What is my child finding difficult?
What support are they receiving now?
What has already been tried?
What difference has it made?
What evidence do I already have?

Write those five things down.

That’s a perfectly sensible place to start.