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EHCP: Introduction, Assessment and Process

Six adults and three children all sat down around a table.

An Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) is a legal document. It is sometimes called a statutory plan or an EHC Plan. An EHCP sets out:

EHCPs cover the age range 0-25.

The Assessment and Planning (A&P) team manage EHCPs in East Sussex.

Is an Assessment Necessary?

Most children and young people with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) will receive support in their local school. This is even the case without an EHCP. For the majority of children, a support plan drawn up by their school is enough to help them achieve well.

All schools have a Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator (SENCo). They are available to discuss any concerns you have about your child. This can include your child’s needs or their current support.

SEND support can take many forms including:

Nationally, 4.8% of children and young people have an EHCP. These are the children and young people with the most complex needs.

You may feel that your child is not making expected progress despite high quality SEND support. In this case, you or your child’s SENCo can ask for an EHC needs assessment. This is sometimes called an EHCNA.

Requesting an Education, Health and Care Needs Assessment

The whole process of requesting an EHCP can take up to 20 weeks. This is from when we receive the request for statutory assessment, to when we issue the EHCP.

The request can come from you, your child if they’re over 16, or, ideally, from their educational setting. This includes their nursery, school or college. It helps to avoid delays if the request comes from the educational setting. This is because they can provide evidence that we will need to make our decision. Evidence includes:

It’s a good idea to speak to the educational setting first if you have concerns about your child’s needs. In most cases, they can sort things out and intervene without the need to ask for extra help. If that’s not possible, then it’s always useful if they start the process of requesting an assessment.

To request an EHC needs assessment yourself, you can contact the Assessment and Planning (A&P) admin team:

You and your child’s educational setting will have 2 weeks to provide any further information. We will then consider the request.

Please note - ​some files on this website might not be suitable for users of assistive technology. 

If you use assistive technology and you have issues with any of our documents, please contact us. We will do our best to help and we will contact you about the next step.

You can contact us on localoffer@eastsussex.gov.uk

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Deciding Whether to Carry Out an Education, Health and Care Needs Assessment

As a Local Authority, we must make a decision whether to conduct an EHC needs assessment. We must inform you of this decision within 6 weeks of receiving the initial needs assessment request.

We will assign you an Assessment and Planning Officer (APO). The APO will send you the decision in writing.

There are two decisions that can be made:

We may not think your child requires an EHC needs assessment. If this is the case, your APO will ask the school or college to arrange a Way Forward meeting with you and your child. At this meeting, a non-statutory school-based Additional Needs Plan (ANP) can be reviewed, or agreed if required. This will help to support your child. The APO will also send you and the school all the information collated during the statutory assessment period. The statutory assessment process will then be concluded.

If you don’t agree with our decision, you have the right to appeal.

For more information, see the ‘Additional Help and Support’ section below.

If we decide that your child requires an EHC needs assessment, we will need your child to tell us more about themselves. This can be with support if necessary. We will also need you to give us your views. 

We’ll also need to request information from the following people:

We will contact them directly. If there are other people that have particular knowledge that is relevant to your child’s education and that you would like us to contact, you will need to let your APO know who these people are and provide their contact details.

We will also go back to your child’s educational setting and ask for any further up-to-date information.

Everyone we formally ask for information as part of an EHC needs assessment must reply to us within 6 weeks of the request. It is important that you and your child keep all the appointments relating to their needs assessment. It could delay the process if you don’t.

We understand that sometimes things happen and plans change. If you can't make an appointment, please make sure you contact the person you're supposed to see as soon as possible. You can then arrange a new time. Please let your APO know if there is going to be a delay.

The APO will collate all the advice received, together with your and your child’s views. We will then consider all the evidence. We will then decide whether your child needs an EHCP to meet their special educational needs. The APO will send you the decision in writing.

Deciding Whether to Issue an EHCP

If we have agreed to complete a needs assessment for your child,  we must then make a decision whether to issue an EHCP. We must inform you of this decision within 16 weeks of receiving the initial needs assessment request.

There are two decisions that can be made:

If we have decided that your child’s educational setting can meet their needs without an EHCP, the APO will explain why. Your APO will ask the school or college to arrange a Way Forward meeting with you and your child. At this meeting, a non-statutory school-based Additional Needs Plan (ANP) can be reviewed, or agreed if required. This will help to support your child. The APO will send you and the school all the reports collated during the EHC needs assessment. These will inform the ANP and the school’s support for your child. This will conclude the statutory EHCNA process. If you don’t agree with our decision, you have the right to appeal.

For more information, see the ‘Additional Help and Support’ section below.

If we decide to issue an Education, Health and Care plan, the APO will offer you a co-production meeting. You, your child, their educational setting, and any professionals involved will be invited. This meeting will provide an opportunity to identify the provision needed to address your child’s SEN. It will also identify the outcomes expected to be achieved through the EHCP. At this meeting, you will also be able to ask for an 'Education Personal Budget'. Your and your child’s views will form a central part of these discussions. This includes your views on which school your child should attend. Most children and young people with an EHCP stay in their local mainstream school. This is because their special educational needs can usually be met with some extra support in accordance with their EHCP.

Following the co-production meeting, the APO will produce a draft EHCP. This will be based on the information collated during the EHC needs assessment and the discussions that took place at the meeting. They will send the draft EHCP to you for comment by the end of week 16 at the latest.

Finalising the EHCP

If we have agreed to issue an EHCP, we must issue the final EHCP within 20 weeks of receiving the initial needs assessment request.

Once we have sent you the draft EHCP, you will have 15 calendar days to consider it. Within this time, you must let us know if you are happy with the plan or want to suggest any changes. We will consider any requested changes before issuing the final EHCP. You may also request a meeting with your APO during this time to discuss the draft EHCP.

You will have been working with your APO throughout the EHCP drafting process and may have already discussed schools. You need to officially tell us within these 15 days what educational setting you would like named in Section I of the plan. In most cases, parents expect their child to stay in their local mainstream school or college. This is because their needs can often be met with some extra help, as agreed in the EHCP.

Once you have told us your preferred school or college, the APO will formally consult with them.

We may also consult with other schools or colleges. They will be settings we believe can meet your child’s needs.

The educational settings should formally let us know within 15 calendar days whether they are able to meet your child’s needs.

Following consultation, we will decide which education provider to name in Section I of the final EHCP. We will base this on:

We will finalise and send the final EHCP to you by the end of week 20 from the start of the needs assessment process. This is when the support specified in the plan will be put in place. If you don’t agree with the contents of the final EHCP, you will have the right to appeal.

For more information, see the ‘Additional Help and Support’ section below.

The Sections of an EHCP

The EHCP has 11 sections which outline the broad range of needs and support required by your child. The sections include:

Travel Assistance

Your child may be eligible for travel assistance. If you would like to apply or find out more, you can visit the main East Sussex County Council website:

Post-16 travel assistance is discretionary. The Local Authority will consider each application in line with policy. You can learn more on the main East Sussex County Council website:

You should not make an application until the EHCP has named a placement.

Additional Help and Support

Assessment & Planning Officer (APO)

Your APO will support you throughout the assessment process. The APO will contact you if there are any delays, or any information that you should know, as things arise.

Some of our APOs work part-time and may not be available immediately if you telephone or email them. However, if you leave a message, they will always respond to your contact as soon as they are able. You will find their direct telephone number on any of the letters you have received.

You can also contact the Assessment & Planning admin team by:

We will return all contact within the Customer Promise. You can learn more about this on the main East Sussex County Council website:

Amaze SENDIASS

Amaze SENDIASS (Special Educational Needs and Disabilities Information Advice and Support Service) are a local charity. They offer free, independent, and impartial advice for all matters relating to SEND. You can get their support throughout this process but we recommend you access their advice or support from the very start of the process. Contact Amaze SENDIASS by:

Visit the Amaze SENDIASS web page.

Amaze have also created an ‘EHC Plans Fact Sheet’:

Special Educational Needs and Disability Tribunal (SENDIST)

You have the right to appeal. You can appeal to the Special Educational Needs and Disability Tribunal (SENDIST). Appeal may be for the following reasons:

We would hope to sort out any disagreements with you and your child’s educational setting first. Please contact your APO in the first instance. They will try and resolve any issues and address any of your concerns. You will find their direct telephone number on any of the letters you have received.

To find out more, please visit our page on EHCP: Appeals and Mediation.

East Sussex Local Offer directory of services

You can visit our SEND-specific online directory, hosted on East Sussex 1Space. The directory lists many different services both throughout the county and online. Services cover many topics, including:

Visit the East Sussex Local Offer directory.

NHS - Health A to Z

The East Sussex Local Offer aims to provide as much information as possible. There may be some conditions that aren't covered in thorough detail. The NHS website has pages that list all conditions. These pages provide information and advice on how to get extra support:

Visit the NHS Health A to Z web page.

Glossary of East Sussex SEND Terms

We explain some of the terms used on this website on our page, Glossary of East Sussex SEND Terms.

Visit the next page: EHCP Reviews

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