Right. If your child’s school has told you to “give it a little longer” before asking for an EHCP assessment, this one’s for you.
You don’t have to wait for them. You never did. You can write to the council yourself, this week if you like, and the council has to tell you within six weeks whether it will assess.
That’s the main point of a Netmums piece on 17 October, where SEND solicitor Erin Smart explained the legal threshold for an Education, Health and Care needs assessment and why parents shouldn’t sit tight waiting for school to make the first move. It lands at a jittery time for the whole system. More on that in a minute.
We went through this for Leo. I’m still learning, honestly. But if I could tell another dad one thing it would be this: the request is less scary than it sounds. The waiting is the hard part.
What’s actually going on
Numbers first, because they explain a lot.
The Department for Education’s latest EHCP figures, published in June, show 718,800 children and young people in England had an EHCP in January 2026. That’s 12.5% up on a year earlier, and the biggest yearly rise since the plans started in 2014. Councils received 162,700 requests for an assessment during 2025.
And the waits are long. The law says the whole thing, from request to final plan, should take no more than 20 weeks. In 2025 only 46.1% of new plans made it inside that. The average was 24 weeks. About one in ten took more than a year.
Then there’s the shake up. In February the government published its schools white paper, Every child achieving and thriving, alongside a consultation on SEND reform that closed in May. The plan keeps EHCPs for children with the most complex needs, brings in Individual Support Plans for every child with SEND, and builds future EHCPs around new national Specialist Provision Packages. Drafts of those packages are due this autumn.
Here’s the bit that matters if you’re deciding what to do now. According to the DfE’s own factsheet for parents, the new style of needs assessment isn’t due to start until September 2029. Children who already have a plan won’t start moving across until 2030, and only when they change school phase, so primary to secondary or secondary to college. The new law isn’t expected to take effect until 2029. Until then the current rules apply. The legal test, the six weeks, the 20 weeks, the right to appeal. All still there.
Earlier this month the Institute for Government warned of a “use it before you lose it” feeling, with families pushing to get plans in place before anything changes, as the Guardian reported. The DfE called the figures in that report speculative and said there was no evidence the reforms were driving demand. Who’s right? No idea. What I do know is that if your child needs help this year, the rules that count are the ones in force this year.
The bit schools don’t always mention
The legal test is in section 36 of the Children and Families Act 2014. The council must carry out an assessment if your child has or may have special educational needs, and may need support to be put in place through an EHCP.
“May” is doing a lot of work there. Twice.
It doesn’t say they have to be years behind. It doesn’t mention a diagnosis. IPSEA, the free legal advice charity, says plenty of councils have their own checklists (a set amount already spent by the school, a number of terms on SEN support, an educational psychologist report already done) but those aren’t part of the law, and a council can’t turn you down just because you haven’t ticked them. There’s no special form you have to use either. IPSEA’s advice is to put it in writing and keep a copy.
Erin’s advice in the Netmums piece was sensible, and pretty close to what IPSEA say. Talk to the SENCO and the class teacher first. A good SENCO will often support the request or help you put it together. If they won’t, gather what evidence school does have and send it yourself. She also made a point I wish someone had made to me sooner. If your child holds it together all day at school and then falls apart at home, that counts. Write it down.
One stat from the DfE data is worth knowing. 2025 was the first year councils recorded who made each request. Schools made 55.8% of requests and parents 29.3%. Councils agreed to assess 75.8% of the school requests but only 44.0% of the parent ones. IPSEA are clear the legal test is the same whoever writes the letter, so I read that as an evidence thing rather than a rule. School requests tend to arrive with the paperwork attached. So if you’re doing it yourself, attach the paperwork.
What parents are saying
The Mumsnet special needs board has been busy this month.
In one thread from 1 October, a mum of an autistic ten year old in Year 6 said her daughter’s teacher and the SENCO at the secondary she’s likely to go to had both suggested an EHCP. She assumed it was pointless because her daughter was doing well academically. The replies were blunt. The bar for an assessment is lower than people think, bright kids can and do get plans, you don’t need anyone’s permission, and one poster told her to grab the IPSEA template and send it that weekend. Another tip from that thread I’d underline twice: after every chat with school, send a short email saying what was agreed. Paper trail.
A thread from mid October went the other way. A parent of a Year 2 boy worried that going too early with thin evidence would mean a refusal and a harder fight later. Fair worry, and one I recognise. That thread was mostly about a diagnosis rather than an EHCP, but timing came up, and one parent said they’d applied in October of Year 5 and got the final plan in June of Year 6. Worth knowing if secondary is on the horizon.
Both threads are from the last few weeks, and neither is official advice. They do sound a lot like the conversations I have at pickup, mind.
A prep list, if you’re thinking about it
I’m an ex chef. I think in prep lists. Here’s mine.
- Have the SENCO conversation first, then follow it up by email so it’s in writing.
- Gather what you’ve got. School reports, any support plan, letters from the GP, speech and language therapist or anyone else involved, and notes on what school has already tried.
- Write down what home looks like. The meltdown after pickup, the homework that should take twenty minutes and takes two hours, the sleep. Dates help.
- Write to your home council, the one where you live, even if the school is in a different area. Say why you think your child has or may have SEN and why they may need an EHCP. IPSEA have a free template letter.
- Keep a copy and put the six week deadline in your phone.
- If the answer is no, the refusal letter has to tell you about mediation and your right to appeal to the SEND Tribunal. IPSEA say the deadline is two months from the decision or one month from the mediation certificate, whichever is later. In 2025 there were 5,100 tribunal cases over refusals to assess.
- Contact your local SEND Information, Advice and Support Service. It’s free and impartial, and GOV.UK points parents to it for advice on SEND.
One more thing. All of this is England. Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland run their own systems with different names and timescales, so check yours.
Loose end
When we did Leo’s, I thought the hard bit would be writing the letter. It wasn’t. The hard bit was the chasing afterwards, and reading every line of the draft plan twice because I was scared of missing something. Leo, for the record, was completely unbothered by the whole thing. Leo does it Leo’s way, and honestly, fair enough.
If school says wait and your gut says now, you’re allowed to go with your gut. Write the letter. Send it. Put the kettle on.
Sources: Netmums: Parents don’t need to wait for schools to request an EHCP assessment, DfE: Education, health and care plans 2026, GOV.UK: Children with SEND, extra help, Children and Families Act 2014, section 36, SEND Regulations 2014, regulation 5, GOV.UK: SEND code of practice, IPSEA: Asking for an EHC needs assessment, IPSEA: Template letter, DfE: Information on SEND reform for parents of children with EHCPs, GOV.UK: Every child achieving and thriving, GOV.UK: SEND reform consultation, The Guardian: SEND changes at risk as parents rush to secure support, GOV.UK: SEND Tribunal, Mumsnet Talk: Is an EHCP realistic for my autistic daughter moving to secondary, Mumsnet Talk: Is going for an assessment now really the best thing.
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