If the EHC casework team and the panel agree that the child's needs require assessment, they will work with their partners in education, health, and social care to complete this within 20 weeks. The EHC casework team will give you a named EHC coordinator who will support you during this process and provide you with updates on progress.
As part of the assessment, the SEND service will also contact:
- teachers or staff at the child's nursery, school or college
- an educational psychologist
- specialist teachers from the specialist teaching and learning service if they are already involved
- a paediatrician (or GP if your child is over 18)
- a speech and language therapist, an occupational therapist or a physical therapist, if already involved
- family services (or adult social care if your child is over 18)
- anyone else they need advice from, or that you think they should seek information from.
This information will help the EHC casework team see how your child's needs affect their access to learning across a range of areas.
Your involvement
You and your child or you as a young person are at the centre of the assessment process. The allocated EHC coordinator will make sure you have time to prepare for meetings and give you time to share your views. You can attend any examinations or assessments as needed.
If the EHC team decides not to issue an EHC plan
The EHC Team will consider all the advice received as part of the assessment and will decide about whether an EHC Plan is required. This decision is made via a multi-agency meeting with representation across education, health, and care partners. Your coordinator will formally write to you to inform you of the decision by Week 16 or will contact you to notify you of any delay.
The team will tell you within 16 weeks of starting the EHC assessment if they decide not to issue a plan for your child or you as a young person.
Your coordinator will invite you to a meeting called 'Next Steps meeting' to discuss the decision and possible ways forward. Even if the child or young person doesn't need an EHC plan there will still be support available through the Local Offer for SEND.
The Family Hub website that you are on at the moment is where all the information about SEND services is published. You can contact the Local Offer for SEND service at local.offer@lbhf.gov.uk
If you disagree with the decision, you have two months to appeal to the SEND tribunal. The SEND service will explain how you can appeal and give you information about the mediation process. Parents, carers and young people who wish to make an SEND appeal to the First-Tier Tribunal may only do so after they have contacted an independent mediation advisor and obtained a certificate. KIDS SEND Mediation Service offers a free mediation and disagreement resolution service that is an independent service of the local authority.
Contact a mediation advisor at KIDS:
020 7359 3635
mediationlondon@kids.org.uk
If the EHC team agrees to issue an EHC plan
The team will issue an EHC plan if the EHC needs assessment shows that the special educational needs provision required for your child, is over and above what is available in the Local Offer for SEND.
Your coordinator will:
- explain the help that is available and involve you in decisions about how funding is used where possible. This could include Help with travel to school costs for young people with SEND and in some cases, you may be able to receive a personal budget to arrange the provision yourself
- arrange a co-production meeting with you and the child's educational setting and any relevant professionals to go through the draft EHC plan to make sure it is accurate. You will have the opportunity to comment on the draft EHC plan before the EHC team issue the final one.
This is the EHC plan template for your reference, it would be completed by the professionals working with you.