Seeking Advice on Applying for an EHCP

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Hello everyone,

I'm looking for some advice regarding my child and the potential need for an Education, Health, and Care Plan. I would really appreciate any insights or experiences you can share.

My child has been struggling throughout their entire primary school education and is now preparing to enter Year 7 in secondary school next year. Despite consistently completing homework, having good attendance, and receiving professional tuition outside of school, they have never been able to meet age-related expectations academically. The school my child attends is, on paper, very good and excels in league tables, which makes our concerns even more prominent. Despite the school's extra support, my child still isn't where they need to be academically.

We are also awaiting an ADHD assessment for my child from a reputable children's hospital, which might provide more clarity on their difficulties. Meanwhile, I am considering applying for an EHCP to ensure they get the necessary support in secondary school.

However, in the past, the SEN coordinator at the current school seemed indifferent about the EHCP process. They felt EHCPs are for children with much greater needs than my child's, but I also got the sense they were reluctant to provide more support than they already do.

Has anyone else been in a similar situation? What are your thoughts on applying for an EHCP? Any advice on how to best present our case or any specific points to include would be greatly appreciated. I'm particularly interested in hearing about the types of support your children have received through an EHCP and whether you found it helpful.

You could join the EHCP thread - lots of experiences being shared there.

It isn’t uncommon for some schools to incorrectly tell parents their DC don’t need or won’t get an EHCP, but the parents go on to successfully request an EHCNA themselves.

The threshold for an EHCNA is relatively low a) has or may have SEN, and b) may need SEN provision to be made via an EHCP. If you decide to request an EHCNA, IPSEA has a model letter you can use.

What support is the school providing? What further support is required? What does DC struggle with (e.g. getting their ideas down on paper, completing tasks in class, concentrating on instructions, understanding…)? Are there any non-academic difficulties?

Provision in EHCPs depends on the individual child’s needs but examples of what can be included are things like 1:1, pre-teaching, precision teaching, recapping content, small group tuition, specialist tuition, SALT, OT, mentoring, assistive technology.

One possible approach would be to get expert advice, i.e. Ed Psych, OT, SALT. advice from anywhere else i would take as just information at this stage and file it appropriately, but base line it with actual evidence is quite key, rather than collecting opinions.

Advice to pursue or not to pursue an EHCP from an education setting is a complicated affair

Some LA or NHS SALT, OT, EPs are just as likely to give incorrect ‘advice’ as some schools. That is if you can even get such advice via the LA or NHS either at all or without a long wait and you don’t want to delay requesting an EHCNA.

Personally, unless money is no object, I wouldn’t seek independent assessments now before requesting an EHCNA. Anyone good will have a waiting list and you don’t want to delay requesting an EHCNA. And, if the LA e.g. agree to assess but not issue you may decide you desperately need to target your money at e.g. independent OT and SALT reports and the LA EP report will do (not brilliant but satisfactory compared to the need to get independent SALT and OT). Also, if you get assessments then request an EHCNA and have to appeal further down the line, as many do, by the time you get to a hearing any report now could be considered out of date. Previously, reports were considered up to date for around 2 years, but over the last few years SENDIST has considered reports several months younger out of date. For example, if you wait for an assessment, then take a week to submit an EHCNA request, the LA takes 16 weeks to refuse to issue, you take 2 months to submit an appeal to SENDIST, a hearing 1 year away could add up to 18 months since the assessment and SENDIST sometimes considers reports that age out of date.

Can anyone help with this? I submitted an EHCP request, but the school missed the deadline to provide their information. As a result, the local authority made their decision based solely on my information and decided against assessing. After I followed up, the school finally submitted their information, and now the local authority has given me the following options. What should I do? They now have all the information, but if I choose to open a new request, I suspect the 6-week assessment period will start again, and they may still say no. Should I go straight to appeal? It's important to mention that DD is starting secondary school in September.

Here are the options given:

• Open a new request now that the school’s information is available for review by the panel.
• After receiving the 'no to assessment' outcome letter, request mediation to discuss concerns with LA and the school.
• After receiving the 'no to assessment' outcome letter, request a mediation certificate and proceed straight to an appeal.
• Wait for DD to start secondary school and submit a new request at any time.

What would be the best course of action do you think?

I would request a mediation certificate and submit your appeal to SENDIST.

You don’t need to make another request. The timescales will start again. The LA may try to rely on the summer holiday to delay. There is no guarantee they will agree to assess. If they wanted to the LA could use the new information and agree to assess now. They don’t need you to make another request.

LAs use mediation as a delaying tactic. If they are going to concede, they will do so whether you actively partake or not.

If you think an EHCP may be needed, I wouldn’t delay until DD has already started secondary.