How much do schools have to spend on a child before applying for an EHCP?

Nothing: no law requires a school to spend any amount before requesting an EHC needs assessment. The £6,000 notional SEN budget (2026/27) is what a school funds per high-needs pupil before top-up, not a precondition. If a council tells you it will only accept a request once you can show £6,000 of spend, it is applying a rule that does not exist in law.

Where the £6,000 comes from

The figure is real. In the Department for Education’s operational guidance for 2026/27, a mainstream school is expected to meet the cost of special educational provision for a high-needs pupil up to a threshold of £6,000 per pupil per year from its own delegated budget. Above that, the council provides high-needs top-up funding. That is the whole purpose of the figure: it marks where the school’s funding ends and the council’s begins.

The DfE is explicit that the £6,000 is not a per-pupil sum to be spent on every child with SEN. Most pupils’ support costs far less. It is a notional ceiling on the school’s contribution, drawn from the notional SEN budget — money that is not ring-fenced and is shared across all pupils who need it.

The legal test is need, not spend

A council must carry out an EHC needs assessment when it is of the opinion that the child has or may have special educational needs, and that it may be necessary for provision to be made through an EHC plan (section 36 of the Children and Families Act 2014). The test turns on the child’s needs and whether a plan may be needed — not on how much money has been spent. A blanket policy demanding proof of £6,000 of spend before accepting a request is unlawful.

• What the council can ask for: evidence that the school has taken relevant and purposeful action and the child still has unmet needs.
• What it cannot require: a minimum sum spent, a fixed number of intervention cycles, or that the £6,000 is “used up” first.

What this means in practice

A school can — and should — request an assessment as soon as the graduated approach shows a child is not making expected progress despite SEN Support, even if recorded spend is well under £6,000. The stronger your Assess-Plan-Do-Review evidence, the better — but delaying purely to “build up” spend is a misreading. See also what the £6,000 SEN funding threshold actually is. Be aware too that SEND funding faces reform: the 2026 Schools White Paper and the Education for All Bill propose changes from the end of the decade, but for now the £6,000 threshold and the need-based assessment test both remain current law.

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