Education, Health and Care Needs Assessments

The majority of children and young people with special education needs (SEN) or disabilities will have the support they need within local mainstream early years settings, schools or colleges, but for some children and young people, there may be concerns about the progress they are making within their settings, even with this support.

Some of these children and young people may require something called an Education, Health and Care (EHC) needs assessment so it is clear what their special educational needs are - this is sometimes called an EHCNA. 

The stages that must be followed during an EHCNA are the same for all Local Authorities in England and Wales, and are laid out in the SEND Code of Practice.

The following people can request an EHC needs assessment for a child or young person aged between 0 and 25:

• The child's parent or carer
• A young person over the age of 16 but under the age of 25
• A person acting on behalf of a school or post-16 institution

In addition, anyone else can bring a child or young person who has (or may have) SEN to the attention of the local authority, particularly where they think an EHC needs assessment may be necessary. This could include, for example, foster carers, health and social care professionals, early years practitioners, youth offending teams or probation services.

We would always encourage families, schools and other professionals to work together to discuss the provision in place for a child, review what is working, what else might be appropriate and to consider together whether an EHCNA might be appropriate. Regardless of who makes the initial request, we will always then seek advice from all the people listed below.

Schools often hold the most comprehensive records of a child or young person's needs and the support and provision that has already been put in place, and so EHCNA requests most often come from them. However, any of the people listed above can make the initial EHCNA request via our EHC Portal.

When the Local Authority receive a request for an EHC Needs Assessment, we must consider whether this assessment is necessary based on the information provided. If the assessment is not agreed, then you will be contacted with further information about options for next steps.

When the Local Authority receive a request for an EHC Needs Assessment, we must consider whether this assessment is necessary based on the information provided. If the assessment is not agreed, then you will be contacted with further information about options for next steps.

If it is agreed to go ahead with an EHC needs assessment, the Local Authority will request information from :

• the child’s parent or carer
• the young person themselves
• the health service (the relevant Integrated Care Board (ICB) or NHS England where it has responsibility for a child or young person)
• local authority officers responsible for social care for children or young people with SEN
• where a child attends an early years setting, the manager of that setting
• where a child or young person is registered at a school, the head teacher (or equivalent)
• where the young person attends a post-16 institution, the principal (or equivalent)

Local authorities then use the information from the assessment to:

• establish and record the views, interests and aspirations of the parents and child or young person
  provide a full description of the child or young person’s special educational needs and any health and social care needs
• establish outcomes across education, health and social care based on the child or young person’s needs and aspirations
• specify the provision required and how education, health and care services will work together to meet the child or young person’s needs and support the achievement of the agreed outcomes

Assessment Outcomes

The Local Authority then has the responsibility to decide whether it is necessary to issue something called an Education, Health and Care Plan or EHCP; to specify additional support and provision for the child or young person additional to that which is normally available from SEN Support. An EHC needs assessment will not always lead to an EHC plan.

The information gathered during an EHC needs assessment may indicate ways in which the school, college or other provider can meet the child or young person’s needs without an EHC plan.

Read more about EHC Plans here.

Like elsewhere across the country, Suffolk County Council is experiencing a huge increase in requests for Education, Health and Care Needs Assessments (EHCNA). This demand is coupled with a national and local shortage of Educational Psychologists. This has resulted in there not being enough Educational Psychologists to keep up with the growing demand for psychological advice and information which is needed as part of the EHCNA process.

Unfortunately, as a consequence of this many families are experiencing a delay in their child’s EHNCA. As of the start of October 2024, the average wait time for an Educational Psychologist to undertake their advice and information report is 15 weeks, with the range being between one to 42 weeks. We’d like to apologise for this delay and offer reassurance that we are working hard to deal with delays. One of the ways we are addressing this delay is the use of private Educational Psychologists and continuing to strengthen our recruitment of council employed Educational Psychologists, which includes the use of Assistant Psychologists and Trainee Educational Psychologists where appropriate.

Background information regarding the role of Educational Psychologists within the Education, Health and Care Needs Assessment (EHCNA) process

As part of the EHCNA process an Educational Psychologist is required to provide advice and information. This may include, observations, consultation (structured conversations with adults and families) and/or assessment activities that could be carried out face to face or online.​ Educational Psychologists can be flexible in the choice of approach to the provision of advice and information in-line with professional practice guidance. For the majority of young people psychological advice and information can be gathered via virtual or online information gathering. However, there will also be occasions where a face-to-face visit is part of this process.

​Information about how we work and resources that you may find helpful can be found on our webpages Psychology and Therapeutic Services - Suffolk County Council and Consultation and Assessment.

As part of the statutory assessment process Suffolk County Council is required to collate all relevant education, health and care information from a range of sources. Educational psychology advice and information is one of these sources feeding into the EHCNA process and there will be a range of advice and information that forms part of the assessment. The EHCNA process will not be reliant on Educational Psychologist advice and information only. ​The Educational Psychologist will be able to consider a range of information within the EHCNA process paperwork and will seek to gain a holistic picture of the child or young person. The Educational Psychologist will make a professional judgement regarding how to undertake gathering information that will contribute towards their advice and information. For example, if there is already a private Educational Psychologist report that has been shared, the Local Authority Educational Psychologist (as set out in professional guidelines) will consider this information during their work along with all other existing assessments and information available. The Educational Psychologist speaks with other people who know the child really well​ as part of this process. We continue to adapt our approach in order to allocate our resources in an as efficient way as possible. We are constantly seeking new ways of working to meet our statutory duties. ​