What is the statutory timescale for an EHC needs assessment?

20 weeks is the statutory timescale for an EHC needs assessment in England (2026): the local authority must issue the final EHC plan within 20 weeks of the request, deciding whether to assess within the first 6 weeks. An EHC needs assessment is the statutory process a council runs to work out a child or young person's special educational needs and the support they require; an EHC plan is the legal document it can lead to. The 20-week deadline is fixed by regulation 13 of the SEND Regulations 2014, which requires the finalised plan to be sent as soon as practicable and in any event within 20 weeks of the request.

Two clocks, not one

The figure parents and officers most often confuse is the headline 20 weeks against the 6-week step that sits inside it. They measure different things:

The 6 weeks is the deadline for the decision on whether to assess at all. The council must tell the parent or young person whether it will carry out an assessment within six weeks of receiving the request (regulation 5).
The 20 weeks is the whole-process deadline, from the request landing to the final plan being issued where one is agreed (regulation 13).

The milestones in order

Inside the 20-week window the council has to clear set staging points to stay lawful overall:

By week 6: decide whether to carry out an assessment and notify the family of that decision. The duty to assess where one is necessary arises under section 36 of the Children and Families Act 2014.
By week 16: decide whether to issue an EHC plan, once advice is in. Professionals asked for advice must normally respond within six weeks (SEND Code of Practice, paragraph 9.42).
By week 20: issue the final EHC plan, or the decision not to issue one.

When the clock can lawfully stop

These are hard statutory deadlines, not targets, and the only ways the clock stops are the closed list of exceptions in the regulations: where the child, parent or young person is absent from the area for a continuous period of at least four weeks, where exceptional personal circumstances affect them, or where the school or setting is closed for at least four weeks. A backlog of cases, staffing shortages, or advice arriving late are not lawful reasons to go past 20 weeks. Where the council decides not to assess, the family has a separate right of appeal — see when a local authority can refuse an EHC needs assessment.

Missing the deadline is unlawful

Because the timescale is a duty rather than an aspiration, a breach is challengeable through the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman or, in some cases, judicial review. For what follows a missed deadline, see what happens if a local authority misses the 20-week deadline, and for the same 20-week window viewed week by week, see the 20-week EHCP timescale.

Still the law in 2026

The 20-week timescale is current law as of 31 May 2026. The 2026 Schools White Paper and Education for All Bill propose Individual Support Plans and narrowing EHC plans to the most complex needs, but no changes take effect before September 2030 and the existing 20-week clock stands in full until then.