Information and forms for professionals when requesting and contributing to an EHC needs assessment or an EHC plan annual review.
What an Education, Health and Care (EHC) plan is
An EHC plan is a personalised document for children and young people from birth to the age of 25 who have special educational needs or disabilities (SEND).
An EHC plan makes special educational provision to meet the special educational needs of the child or young person. This:
- secures the best possible outcomes for them across education, health and social care
- prepares them for adulthood as they get older
An EHC plan:
- is a legal document
- describes a child or young person's special educational, health and social care needs
- describes what the child or young person needs to make progress towards their 'outcomes', which are what they want to achieve
The whole process from initial request to issuing an EHC plan (if we agree) should take no longer than 20 weeks.
Download an pdf overview of the timeframe (157 KB) .
What an EHC needs assessment is
If the child or young person is getting help in education through SEND support and, despite everyone's best efforts, still isn't making progress, you can ask us to carry out an EHC needs assessment.
We expect the education setting to have put in place any actions and support that are identified for the child and young person at the SEND support stage first.
The EHC needs assessment gathers information on:
- the child or young person's views and aspirations
- the child or young person's needs
- the support the child or young person may need to meet their long term outcomes
The EHC needs assessment helps us decide whether to issue an EHC plan.
Ask for an EHC needs assessment
To request an EHC needs assessment, fill in the following documents:
- document EHC needs assessment request form (209 KB)
- document family views form (79 KB)
- document child or young person's views form 1 (255 KB) or document child or young person's views form 2 (141 KB) (the child or young person can choose which form they'd like to fill in)
You may also wish to include:
- copies of reports from professionals within the last 12 months
- completed support plans (see the SEND support plan templates)
It's not compulsory to include any of these, but they can help support your request.
Email these forms to sen@bristol.gov.uk
Help filling in the forms
- pdf Education, Health and Care needs assessment: information for young people (180 KB)
- pdf Education, Health and Care needs assessment: information for parents and carers (123 KB)
- pdf Education, Health and Care needs assessment: information for schools and professionals (158 KB)
Find out more at Ask for an EHC needs assessment.
What happens when you request an EHC needs assessment
When we get a request for an EHC needs assessment, we have 6 weeks to decide if we'll do an assessment.
The process:
- We record your EHC needs assessment request.
- We email you, the parent or carer, the young person, education setting, health and social care services to tell you we've got the request.
- We contact you within 6 weeks of getting your request to tell you our decision.
If we decide to do an EHC needs assessment
If we agree that an EHC needs assessment would be helpful, we have 6 weeks to get information about the child or young person from professionals linked to them.
The SEND Assessment Coordinator will contact the parent or carer to confirm their views and aspirations submitted. We will share this with you when we ask for your ‘advice and information'.
We'll ask you to submit your advice and information:
- via the Professional Portal (external professionals), or
- via Work Trays (internal professionals)
The process:
1. We'll send a Professional Contribution form to you and your team via the Professional Portal or Work Tray.
2. We'll email you and your team copies of any information received before the start of the Assessment.
3. You will have 6 weeks to submit your contribution via the Professional Portal or Work Tray.
The contribution forms will:
- only ask questions relevant to your area
- link to the EHC plan document
Read about reviewing EHC plans and Key Stage transfers for children with an EHC plan.
If we decide to issue an EHC plan
We'll write a draft EHC plan using the information provided in the written reports submitted via the portal. We'll send you the draft EHC plan for your comments and you have 15 days to get it back to us.
document EHC plan template (419 KB)
