How do we apply for an EHCP for a nursery-age child?

The first step, and who can take it

Apply by sending the local authority a written request for an EHC needs assessment. A parent or the nursery can do this from birth, and no set form or diagnosis is needed. The LA then has six weeks to decide. There is no special early-years process and no lower age limit: the same route under the Children and Families Act 2014 applies from birth to 25 (s.36).

The people who can ask are set out in law (s.36(1)): the child’s parent, the young person, or a person acting on behalf of the setting. In practice an early years setting requests it on behalf of the family. The council can also decide to assess on its own initiative, and for a child under five a health professional who spots a likely special educational need must tell the council through a Health Early Notification.

The steps for the setting

1. Pull together your SEN Support evidence: what the graduated approach (assess, plan, do, review) has already tried, and why ordinary early-years provision is not meeting the child’s needs.
2. Write to the council’s SEN team. A letter or email is legally valid. State plainly that you are requesting an EHC needs assessment, name the child, and attach your evidence. The council cannot refuse the request because you did not use its own form.
3. Advise the family to send their own separate parental request as well. Two requests give the family their own statutory rights, including the right of appeal, independent of the setting.

The legal test and the timeline

The council applies a two-part, needs-based test (s.36(8)): whether the child has or may have special educational needs, and whether it may be necessary for provision to be made through an EHC plan. A diagnosis is not part of that test, so a child does not have to wait for one. Your SEN Support evidence is what shows the second limb may be met.

The council has six weeks from receiving the request to decide whether to assess. If it agrees, the whole process to a final plan must take no more than 20 weeks. These windows are the same whatever the child’s age.

If the council says no

If the council refuses to assess, or later refuses to issue a plan, the child’s parent has the right to appeal to the SEND Tribunal, and can ask for free advice from SENDIASS or IPSEA first. A refusal is not the end of the route. See whether a diagnosis is needed and how a parent applies for an EHCP.

This page is general information, not clinical or legal advice.