SEND FAQs: Education, health and care (EHC) plans
When we receive an EHC needs assessment request electronically (preferred), the SEND service will acknowledge receipt of the request by email within 24 hours. This will advise whether the request has been accepted or rejected (due to missing or incomplete information preventing the application from being processed).
Upon receipt, the SEND statutory team will process the request within 24 hours, which includes sending a letter to the young person and/or parents/carers and school/professionals to inform them of receipt and the next steps.
If you have not received a letter within a week of the request being submitted, please contact the SEND service:
- phone 01793 464641
- email SENDService@swindon.gov.uk
An EHC plan needs assessment should take 20 weeks from the date we receive the request. Within those 20 weeks the following specific requirements apply:
- We must give our decision in response to any request for an EHC needs assessment within six weeks of receiving the request or of the point at which a child or young person was brought to our attention
- When we request information as part of the EHC needs assessment process, those supplying the information must respond in a timely manner and within six weeks of the request being made
- If we decide, following an EHC needs assessment, not to issue an EHC plan, we must inform the child’s parent or the young person within a maximum of 16 weeks from the request for a EHC needs assessment
- The child’s parent or the young person must be given 15 calendar days to consider and provide views on a draft EHC plan and ask for a particular school or other institution to be named in it
Where there are exceptional circumstances, it may not be reasonable to expect us and other partners to comply with these time limits. The Special Educational Needs and Disability Regulations 2014 set out specific exemptions. These include where:
- appointments with people from whom the local authority has requested information are missed by the child or young person (this only applies to the duty on partners to comply with a request under the EHC needs assessment process within six weeks)
- the child or young person is absent from the area for a period of at least four weeks
- exceptional personal circumstances affect the child or his/her parent, or the young person
- the educational institution is closed for at least four weeks, which may delay the submission of information from the school or other institution (this does not apply to the duty on partners to comply with a request under the EHC needs assessment process within six weeks)
You will be informed if exemptions apply so that you are aware of, and understand, the reason for any delays. We will aim to keep delays to a minimum and, as soon as the conditions that led to an exemption no longer apply, we will endeavour to complete the process as quickly as possible. All remaining elements of the process will be completed within their prescribed periods, regardless of whether exemptions have delayed earlier elements.
The EHC plan assessment timeline (PDF) shows the statutory timescales and decision points for the process of EHC needs assessment and EHC plan development that local authorities must adhere to.
We will tell you your key dates in the letter we send after a request for assessment.
Looking forward, we are looking at how we can make this information more readily available to you so you can access this independently through the Synergy portal.
