How do we get an EP assessment for a pupil?

The two routes, in order of normal use

Request EP support through your local authority’s educational psychology service: usually by buying EP time via its traded route, or through an EHC needs assessment, where an EP’s advice is legally required (2026). An educational psychologist (EP) is a specialist who assesses how a pupil learns, thinks and copes, and advises the school on what to put in place. A diagnosis is not needed to involve one; the trigger is lack of progress despite SEN support, and EP work often helps build the picture before any diagnosis.

The school-commissioned route, step by step

This is the route most schools use day to day. The EP work is paid for from the school’s notional SEN budget, so there is no charge to the family.

1. Check how you access EP time. Most councils run a ‘traded’ or service-level-agreement service that schools buy into each year, often on a fixed application window. Confirm your school’s buy-in, or arrange to commission an independent, HCPC-registered EP instead.
2. Gather the graduated-approach evidence. EP services normally expect at least two completed cycles of assess, plan, do, review before a referral. Pull together your dated records of what you tried, for how long, and what changed (see the graduated approach).
3. Get parental consent and input. The SENCo, in discussion with the class teacher and the parent, makes the referral. Bring the family in early; their view is part of the picture the EP builds.
4. Submit the consultation or assessment request to your link EP, with the evidence attached.

The statutory route, and the timeline

If a pupil’s needs may call for provision beyond what the school can give, you (or the parent) can ask the council to carry out an EHC needs assessment under section 36 of the Children and Families Act 2014. Once the council agrees to assess, it must seek psychological advice and information from an educational psychologist (the SEND Regulations 2014, reg.6(1)(d)). So EP advice is guaranteed inside this route, free, as part of the council’s 20-week assessment process.

One caution: the statutory route is not a faster shortcut. The council has to agree to assess first, and EP capacity is under severe national pressure. The British Psychological Society reported a record-level EP shortage in 2025, with the worst-affected area at roughly one EP per 9,400 pupils, so both routes can carry long waits.

If it stalls

Do not hold off on EP advice while you wait for an EHCP; a pupil who needs it now should be referred through the traded route now. If your council refuses to carry out an EHC needs assessment, the parent has a right of appeal to the SEND Tribunal. Either way, keep recording dated, outcome-focused evidence: the EP, and any later tribunal, will rely on it.

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