How to get an EHC assessment

All schools have resources that can help most children who have additional needs. For some children, that's not enough.

If your child needs more support than they are getting, you can ask for an education, health and care (EHC) assessment. This will show if your child should have an EHC plan (EHCP).

When to ask for an assessment

You might want to ask for an assessment if your child:

• has learning difficulties or a disability that's holding them back at school or college
• is not making progress even though they have support

Who can ask for an assessment

If you live in Walsall Borough, you can ask us for an EHC assessment if you are:

• the child’s parent
• a young person over the age of 16 but under the age of 25
• acting on behalf of a school or college (with the knowledge and agreement of the parent or young person where possible)

You do not need a medical diagnosis to apply.

Ask for an EHC assessment

You can do this online:

If you're not able to complete the online application, contact the EHC assessment team. We will help you to send your application by email or post. The timescale for our response is the same as for online applications. You won't be expected to use the online EHC hub. We'll keep you updated by letter instead.

Get advice and support

Your school or college's SENCo will be able to help with the application.

If you would like independent support and advice, you can contact Walsall SENDIAS.

What happens after you send your request

Once we've got your request, we will process it within 3 days.

Logging in to the EHC hub (online applications)

You'll receive an email asking you to register or log in to the EHC hub. This EHC hub account registration video explains how to do it.

Once you've registered, you can access your case.

If you've been allocated a case co-ordinator (also called a SEN casework officer) they will:

• answer your questions
• give updates
• talk to professionals about your child

You can ask us for their direct contact details.

When we'll make our decision

We have up to 6 weeks to decide if we will carry out an assessment.

If you've applied online, you'll get an email asking you to log into the EHC hub when we've done this. To view the decision, click or tap on the first 'decision' button. The letter on the EHC hub is the official notification of our decision.

If you applied by email or post, we'll send your decision letter by post.

If we decide to do an assessment

You can log into the EHC hub and look at the information we've collected.

You'll be able to see:

• who's been asked for advice (such as psychologists or social workers)
• what the advice is

Find out more about the EHC assessment.

If we decide not to do an assessment

We will tell you why. We must tell you this within 6 weeks of the date we received a request for an assessment. If you don't agree, you can appeal. Your decision letter tells you how to do this, and how to get support from Walsall SENDIAS.

If you applied online, login to the EHC hub to view your letter. 

If you applied by email or post, we will write to you.