After a request is made, Devon County Council has six weeks to decide if they will undertake an EHC Needs Assessment.
The information provided at the request stage is used to make a decision about whether the child or young person may have special educational needs and if this may require us to issue an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP).
This process is managed through Devon’s EHC Hub.
Registering for Devon’s EHC Hub
Please see our guidance for registering to use Devon’s EHC Hub.
Contribute your views towards a request
Here is a short video on using the EHC Hub to contribute your views towards a request. You can also read our step-by-step guide to contributing your views towards a request for assessment.
At this stage, we have received a request for an EHC Needs Assessment for your child.
Devon’s EHC Hub contains all of the information submitted to us as part of the request. You can view and add to this by logging into the Hub.
We will use this information to consider whether to carry out an assessment or not.
What happens next?
We have six weeks from the date we received your request to consider:
- the information about your child’s strengths and difficulties
- the arrangements that have been put in place to help
- the progress your child has made so far
We will make a decision on whether to assess or not. If we do carry out an assessment, we will then decide whether your child needs an EHCP. The whole EHC process from start to finish should take no longer than 20 weeks.
You can provide us with answers to the below:
- What historical information about the child or young person’s special educational needs is relevant to this request?
- What historical information about the child or young person’s health needs is relevant to this request?
Views and opinions of the child or young person:
- What is working well for you in your current education setting?
- What is not working well for you in your current education setting? What do you think might help?
Views and opinions of the parent(s) or carer(s)
- What is working well for the child or young person in their current education setting?
- What is not working well for your child in their current education setting? What do you think might help?
You can upload any documents to the Hub that might support your request. Please try not to upload photos of documents as these cannot always be read by the caseworker.
You can scan documents using a smartphone with an app such as Adobe Scan or Microsoft Office Lens.
Decision to assess
If you have registered with the Hub you will receive an email notifying you that a decision has been made. To ensure this information remains secure and confidential you will need to login to the Hub to access the decision.
Here is a short video on using the EHC Hub to access a decision and you can also read this step-by-step guide to accessing a decision.
If we have decided not to proceed with an assessment the reason will be displayed on the Hub.
You can also download this information as a letter. This will also include information about independent advice and support and your right of appeal.
If you are not happy with the decision to refuse a request for an EHC Needs Assessment you can find out more about disagreeing with an EHCP decision.
Assessment
If a decision has been made to carry out an EHC Needs Assessment we will seek advice from the education, health and care professionals involved with your child. This will help us consider how their special educational needs affect their ability to access education.
We may need the professionals involved to send further reports (known as advice). This will help us decide how your child’s needs should be met.
On the EHC Hub you can see who has been requested to provide advice for the assessment. Once their advice has been submitted you can access the information they have provided.
We would also like to know what you and your child thinks about their strengths and difficulties and what help they think they need to support them.
There are two areas for you to record your views. ‘About Me’ and ‘Parent/Carer Views’ are multimedia spaces where you can type text, add photographs or short video clips. If we decide to issue an EHCP, we will use this information to form Section A of the EHCP.
For further information please see the video below or read the step-by-step guide to contributing your views towards an assessment.
If you would like help to get your child’s views, what to include in your own views or to further explain the process you can contact the Devon Information, Advice and Support for SEND (DiAS) service.
Decision to issue
Once the EHC assessment process is complete, we will consider all of the advice gathered to make a decision on whether to issue an EHCP or not. We have 16 weeks from the date the original request was made to notify you of our decision.
If you have registered with the Hub you will receive an email notifying you that a decision has been made.
To ensure this information remains secure and confidential you will need to login to the Hub to access the decision.
If you are not happy with the decision not to issue an EHCP after a needs assessment has been carried out, you can find out more about disagreeing with an EHCP decision.
Draft plan
If it has been decided to issue an EHCP, we will prepare a draft version of the plan for you to view and comment on.
Watch our video about how to comment on a draft plan or read the step-by-step guide about how to comment on a draft plan.
If you have any comments to make on the draft EHCP, you may find it helpful to look at our information about what is in an EHCP.
Please tell us in Section I which nursery, school or college you would like your child to attend.
You may want to get independent advice or support from DiAS.
The DiAS website contains information about checking a draft EHCP using the EHC Hub.
You will have 15 days to record and submit your comments to us. We will then consider your feedback before issuing the final version of the EHCP.
Final plan
We will issue a final EHCP for your child which will be available to view and download on the Hub.
The EHCP will remain in place until your child leaves formal education or we agree that it is no longer needed because they have made good progress.
We will review the EHCP every year, or more often if necessary.
What will the school or college do now?
We will have told the school that your child has an EHCP. The school will make sure that people who teach them know about their special educational needs.
What if I move schools?
Your child may need to transfer to another school, either because you change address or because your child is moving to the next phase of their education. If this happens, we will write to you to explain the process. We will need to make changes to the EHCP and talk to your preferred school.
If you have any queries about a change of school for your child, please contact your caseworker.
You may want to get independent advice or support from DiAS.