Skip to content

Feedback
 
Give feedback Menu  Close 
Give feedback

Requesting an assessment

Before a request for an EHC assessment is made, your child or young person's school would normally have a support plan in place.  This would show how they have identified your child's needs, what strategies and interventions are being used to support your child, and what impact these have made. This is called SEN Support (or 'ordinarily available support'). 

If, in spite of the additional support, your child is still not making expected progress, your child may need a statutory education, health and care (EHC) assessment to work out what extra help they need and, if necessary, to record this extra help in a legally binding education, health and care plan (EHCP).

The Statutory Assessment Team are responsible for managing the EHC assessment process at Hertfordshire County Council.  If you have a query which your SENCo is unable to answer, you can contact the team by calling 01442 453300 or emailing ehcneedsassessment@hertfordshire.gov.uk. 

How to make a request for an EHC assessment

You can make a request however you wish, however, we provide a standard form which helps our officers to handle information efficiently. 

You can download a form and return to the SEND team at the email address shown at the bottom of the form. The should fill in the relevant form based on the age your child is when you start the application.

Request an EHC assessment for ages 0 - 15 (Word doc 61kb)

Request an EHC assessment for a young person aged 16+ (Word doc 59kb)

This is me - views of the child or young person

Alongside your request for assessment, you will also need to submit the 'This is me' form for your child or young person, with the consent form.  

This is Me - forms and guidance

 You need to send the completed forms by email to: 

Ehcneedsassessment@hertfordshire.gov.uk

EHC assessment forms - accessible PDFs

If you need a form you can use and fill in with a screenreader, you can use these PDFS:

EHC assessment request form (723kb) Opening a new window 

EHC assessment request form for young people (Aged 16 - 25) (PDF 795kb) Opening a new window


Preparing to make a request for an EHC assessment

If you’re concerned that your child or young person isn’t making expected progress at school, speak to their class teacher or the SENCo at school. They can ask for advice from the SEND Implementation Support team at the local authority to make sure the right strategies and interventions are in place.  

If it is decided that, in spite of the extra support in place, your child is still not making progress, the next step might be to request an EHC assessment.  To do this, it's helpful if you work with the SENCo to gather the evidence needed to support your request.

What evidence should be included in the request? 
It is helpful for us to have as much information as possible about your child in order that we can make an informed decision. This might include: 

  • evidence of your child or young person’s academic attainment (or developmental milestones in younger children) and rate of progress.
  • Information about your child or young person’s SEND, including physical, emotional and social development and health needs, drawing on evidence from health professionals, and including any relevant reports.
  • Evidence of the action already being taken by the educational setting to meet your child or young person’s SEND. We would normally expect to see at least 2 terms of evidence showing the strategies in place and the impact of these on your child's progress.
  • Evidence that where progress has been made, it has only been as the result of additional intervention and support over and above what is usually provided.
  • Where a young person is aged over 18 we'll consider whether they'll need extra time (in comparison to others of the same age who do not have SEND) to complete their education or training.

For children not attending school

If your child or young person doesn't attend an educational setting, you could speak to your health visitor, GP, social worker, or get in touch with Hertfordshire's SENDIASS.  When submitting your request, it is helpful if you can provide evidence of their needs, details of any support they've received from specialist services or professionals (including relevant reports) and examples of strategies you've tried at home and what is/ isn't working for your child. 

You could also get in touch with local parent support groups and chat with other parents who have already gone through the process.

After you've submitted a request

Once an EHC assessment request has been submitted, you will be assigned a Children's Information and Advice Officer (CIAO). They will oversee the assessment process. They will liaise with you and the school to make sure that all the evidence is in place for the local authority to make an informed decision about whether an assessment is needed.  

How we decide if an EHC assessment is needed

The Local Multi Agency Panel (LMAG) will look at evidence that shows that despite the educational setting having taken action to support the needs of the child or young person with SEND, they still have not made the expected progress. 

We'll make a decision whether or not to carry out an EHC assessment and communicate that decision within 6 weeks of receiving the request.

If we decide to carry out a statutory EHC assessment

If we decide to carry out an assessment, your Children's Information and Advice Officer (CIAO) will contact you to explain the next steps of the process.  They will identify what additional information is needed and contact any relevant professionals.

What to expect from the assessment process.

If we decide not to carry out an EHC assessment

If we decide not to carry out an assessment, we'll give our reasons for this. It might be that the panel decide, from the evidence given, that they are satisfied that the right support is in place for your child to make progress at school.

You'll be contacted by a SEND Implementation and Support Officer (SISO) who will work with you and the school through an Implementation and Support Meeting to make sure additional needs are supported and that adaptations and reasonable adjustments are all in place.  If, through this, we receive additional information or concern, this will be taken back to the Local Multi Agency Panel for reconsideration. If things change you can apply again.

If we decide not to carry out an EHC assessment, you have the right to appeal. When we contact you with the decision, we will give you information and guidance on how to appeal and which services to contact for support.

What if I'm not happy with a decision?

Page was last updated on: 25/10/2024 12:29:54

Cookies

Like many other websites, we place small information files called 'cookies' on your computer.

Why do we use cookies?

To remember your settings, for example your language and location. This means you don’t have to keep entering these details when you visit a new page.

To find out how you use the site to help us update and improve it.

How do I change my cookie settings?

You can change the settings of your web browser so that it won’t accept cookies. For more information visit AboutCookies.org.

But, doing this may stop you from using some of the online features and services on this website. 

Cookies we use

Cookies do a lot of different jobs, and we use 2 types of cookies:

Required functionality cookies – these cookies are essential for the website to work.

Performance and feature cookies – these cookies help to improve the performance and feel of this website, for example providing you with personalised services.


Take a look at a list of cookies we use on our website:

NameTypeHow we use itHow long we use the information for

ASP.Net_Sessions

 

Required functionality

An automatic cookie set by our software. 

Just for the time you are on our website.

ServerID

 

Required functionality

An automatic cookie set by our software. 

Just for the time you are on our website.

_ga

Required functionality

To track the effectiveness of our website using Google Analytics. 

2 years

saved-pages

Performance and feature

To save the pages that you visit by clicking the heart at the top of the page. 

1 month

geoPostcode

Performance and feature

This stores your postcode (or partial postcode) when we ask you for your location.

Just for the time you are on our website or 30 days (you choose this).

geoCoordinates

Performance and feature

This stores your location as a pair of latitude / longitude coordinates.

Just for the time you are on our website or 30 days (you choose this).

reckonerName-history

Performance and feature

This keeps a history of all answers submitted to the ready reckoner.

This is set in the control for each ready reckoner. If you haven't interacted with the ready reckoner for the set amount of days, the cookies are deleted.

reckonerName-content

Performance and feature

This keeps a history of what content cards are clicked on when using the ready reckoner.

This is set in the control for each ready reckoner. If you haven't interacted with the ready reckoner for the set amount of days, the cookies are deleted.

SQ_SYSTEM_SESSION

Required functionality

This used to track user sessions on forms hosted on eservices.hertfordshire.gov.uk

Just for the time you are on our website.

Third party cookies

There are links and content from other sites and services on our website. These sites and services set their own cookies.

Below are a list of cookies that the other sites and services use:

Service namePurposeMore information

Google analytics (_utma/b/c/z)

These are used to compile reports for us on how people use this site.

Cookies of the same names are also used for the same purpose by other websites such as Building Futures, Countryside Management Service and Hertfordshire LIS.

Visit the Google Analytics website for more information about the cookies they use.

You can prevent data from being collected and used by Google Analytics by installing Google's Opt-out Browser Add-on.

Google Translation - googtrans

This cookie is used to remember which language to translate each page into if you have chosen to do so.

It expires at the end of your browser session.

Bing

We use a Bing cookie to track the success of our marketing campaigns and make them more efficient.

Visit Bing to find out more about their cookies.

Google

We use a Google cookie to track the success of our marketing campaigns and make them more efficient.

Visit Google to find out more about their cookies.

Facebook

We have a number of presences on Facebook, which we may link to. Facebook may set some of its own cookies if you follow these links.

Visit Facebook to find out more about their cookies.

Twitter

We have a number of presences and feeds on Twitter, which you may wish to follow or read from this website. Twitter may set some of its own cookies.

Visit Twitter to find out more about their cookies.

YouTube

We have a YouTube channel, which we may link to. YouTube may set some of its own cookies if you follow those links.

Visit YouTube to find out more about their cookies.

Netloan

This ASP.NET_Sessionid cookie is essential for the Netloan secure online payments website to work, and is set when you arrive to the site. This cookie is deleted when you close your browser.

 

HotJar

This session cookie is set to let Hotjar know whether that visitor is included in the sample which is used to generate funnels.

Visit HotJar to find out more about their cookies.

Siteimprove

These cookies are set to help us report on how people are using the site so we can improve it.

Visit Siteimprove to learn more about their cookies.