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Essex SEND IASS
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You can ask the SEND Operations Team for an Education, Health & Care Needs assessment if you are 25 years old or under and you think you might need one. Other people can ask for you including:

  • Your parents or carers
  • Your school
  • People who work with you, like doctors or teachers.

How do I ask the Local Authority’s SEND Operations Team for an Education, Health & Care needs assessment?

You will need to complete the parent & young people request form.

It is very helpful if a consent form is sent in with all requests for an EHC needs assessment.

What Happens if the SEND Operations do not agree to carry out the assessment?

SEND Operations could say they do not think an assessment is needed. If they do, then they must tell you why they have made this decision.

You can then choose to appeal (disagree with) this decision, or could wait and apply again in the future.                         

If this happens you can contact us and we can talk to you about this and offer some help and advice.

You can also read our section on what to do if I don’t agree and read the guidance for young people if you don’t agree with decisions made.

If an assessment has been agreed please read our section on what happens at the end of the assessment?

What is a consent form?

A consent form helps the SEND Operations Team to make the EHC needs assessment process run more smoothly. The consent form gives the Local Authority permission to contact everyone involved for further information.  

You can do this yourself, you can ask an adult you know to help you or we can help you. 

What happens next?

Once the request for an EHC needs assessment has been made, there are a few different things that could happen.                         

  • SEND Operations do not agree to carry out the assessment, this is sometimes called a ‘Refusal to Assess’
  • SEND Operations agree to carry out the assessment but an EHCP is not necessary, this is sometimes called a ‘Refusal to Issue’
  • SEND Operations agreed to carry out the assessment and an Education, Health & Care plan is provided

SEND Operations have 6 weeks to tell you their decision.

Also in this section:

What is an EHC Needs Assessment?

It is a detailed look at what you might need help with. Lots of people think about what you might need and then write reports.

What happens at the end of the EHC Needs Assessment?

Once the Send Operations Team have all the information and reports they need they will decide if you need an Education, Health & Care plan.