The Education, Health and Care (EHC) needs assessment process

If the referral to assess your child or young person is agreed by the Panel, you will be sent an email/letter which will contain the point of contact details of the person from the SEND team during the assessment process. They will contact the relevant professionals for information during the assessment.

The SEND team will write to the following professionals asking for advice and information about your child or young person’s needs, the provision required to meet their needs and the outcomes they should be working towards:

• You (the parent) and your child or young person, if they are 16 and over
• Your child or young person’s educational setting
• NHS health care providers in Wigan
• The Council’s educational psychology team
• The Council’s early help and children’s/adults social care teams
• Any person requested by you or young person where we agree that it is reasonable to do so.

If your child or young person has a sensory impairment, such as a hearing, visual, or multi-sensory impairment, we will also contact the Council’s sensory support education team.

Health and social care assessments are not automatically triggered when a request for an EHC needs assessment is agreed.

The Council is required to request information/advice from these professionals, but not all children or young people will be known to them or may have previously been known to them.

We advise you to request a social care and health assessment as part of the referral if this is what you believe is needed. This will help us to make the referral for a health or social care assessment at soon as we know. We aim to do this no later than week 6 of the process.

By week 12

The advice and information requested from professionals should be provided within 6 weeks of the decision to assess and 12 weeks from the date of the referral - and more quickly wherever possible.

The SEND team will contact you at week 12 (from the point of referral) to let you know what information we have received and what we are still waiting for.

By week 14

The panel will decide whether to issue a draft EHC plan to your child or young person based on the advice and information provided to the Council. If the panel’s decision is not to issue an EHC Plan, the SEND team will contact you in writing, to let you know the panel decision and the reasons.

The email/letter will provide further information on your right of appeal if the panel decide not to issue an EHC plan. 

By week 16

The SEND team will aim to issue the draft EHC by week 16 of the process – this is only possible if all the advice and assessment information is sent to us by week 12 of the assessment process.

If we are not going to meet this timescale, the SEND team will contact you with an update on where they are in the process and when you can expect to receive a copy of the draft EHC plan.

When you receive a copy of your child’s draft EHC plan, we will advise you of your rights to ask for:

• A meeting with the SEND team to discuss the contents of the draft EHC plan
• Any changes you wish for the Council to consider making to the draft EHC plan
• The name of any schools/settings you wish for us to consult with to see if they can meet your child’s needs.

Once we have received your preference for a school place, we will consult with that named setting/school– please note that we are required to consult with these schools in line with your preference, but we are not legally obliged to secure a place for your child if we have assessed that it would be an inefficient use of resources. 

If the proposed school/setting offers your child or young person a place, the Council will undertake a values-based assessment which will compare the costs of securing the provision for your child or young person at your proposed school/setting and the Council’s proposed school/setting.

The outcome of this assessment will determine which school/setting will be named in your child or young person’s final EHC plan.

For more information about placements see requesting a change in school place. 

During the referral and assessment process

If you are planning to move into Wigan during the referral and assessment process, you should contact the local authority where you live to let them know and provide the date you will be moving. They will send us your child’s paperwork and we will complete the assessment.

You should also contact Wigan's SEND team to let us know the date you will be moving into Wigan. Upon receiving your child or young person’s information from the area you previously lived in, the Council will confirm this has been received and accept responsibility for the assessment process.  

If we don’t receive the paperwork from you home local authority this will lead to delays in the assessment process.

The Council will be unable to accept responsibility for your child or young person if they do not have a confirmed Wigan address and moving in date.