What must an EHC needs assessment include?

An EHC needs assessment must gather advice from the parent or young person, the school, an educational psychologist, health and social care, and preparation-for-adulthood advice from Year 9, each within six weeks. An EHC needs assessment is the statutory investigation a local authority carries out to decide whether to issue an Education, Health and Care plan, and what it should say. The mandatory advice list is fixed by regulation 6 of the SEND Regulations 2014, and a plan built on an assessment that skipped a required category is vulnerable to challenge at the SEND Tribunal.

The advice the council must seek

For every assessment, the council has to seek advice and information on the child or young person's needs, the provision required to meet them, and the outcomes sought, from each of these sources:

• The parent or the young person themselves.
• Educational advice, normally from the head of the school or institution the child attends, or a person qualified and experienced in teaching children with special educational needs.
• Medical advice from a health professional identified by the responsible commissioning body (the relevant NHS body).
• Psychological advice from an educational psychologist.
• Social care advice and information.
• From Year 9 onwards, advice on the provision needed to help the young person prepare for adulthood and independent living.
• Any other person the council thinks appropriate, and any person the parent or young person reasonably asks it to consult.

Each source has six weeks to respond

Those asked for advice must provide it within six weeks of the request, subject to limited exceptions, under regulation 8. That six-week window sits inside the wider assessment-and-plan process, which has a 20-week statutory maximum from the date the request is received. For how those windows fit together, see the statutory timescale for an EHC needs assessment.

The two clauses that catch authorities out

Listing the categories is the easy part. Two requirements are the ones that turn up as tribunal vulnerabilities:

1. The advice must be specific, not generic. Regulation 6 and the SEND Code of Practice (paragraph 9.51) require advice to be clear, accessible and specific to the named child, and to address the provision required and the outcomes sought, not just describe needs. Templated or bland educational psychology or health advice that could apply to any child is a weakness, not a saving of time.
2. You cannot reuse old advice unilaterally. The council may rely on advice already provided only where the person who gave it, the council, and the parent or young person all agree it remains sufficient. The authority cannot decide on its own that an existing report still does the job.

For the full mandatory consultation list, see who the LA has to consult during an EHC needs assessment. The duty to assess once the threshold is met arises under section 36 of the Children and Families Act 2014, set out in a local authority's duties under the Children and Families Act 2014.

Still the law in 2026

These requirements are current law as of 31 May 2026. The 2026 Schools White Paper proposes statutory Individual Support Plans and a reshaped EHCP model, but, per the GOV.UK Education Hub explainer, this is a proposal, not yet law: no changes to existing EHCP support begin before September 2030, and the current assessment requirements remain fully in force in the meantime.

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