Why is it SO hard to get an EHCP and how can I make sure my child’s application is successful?

9 Mar

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In 2022, 93,302 applications were made for EHC needs assessments across the UK (a 23% increase in the two years since 2020). Of these, 22.3% were refused.[1] Considering the number of parents I speak to who are desperately battling to secure an EHCP for their child, this sounded like quite a small percentage to me, but it got me thinking…

Why were those 22.3% refused? What was it about those applications that meant they weren’t accepted when the other 77.7% were? Was it that the needs of those children really didn’t seem so severe? Or just that the evidence wasn’t quite right to pass the high thresholds local authorities have in place? Based on my experience, I’d be tempted to say it’s the latter.

Local authority SEN funding has become a hot topic of debate in recent years. Council deficits in SEN budgets were reported to be £2.4 billion for the year 2022-23, six times higher than in 2018.[2]With a system close to total financial collapse, is it any wonder that local authorities are trying to avoid issuing more EHCPs when they mean giving out more money?

The framework for securing an EHC needs assessment is legislated for in the Children and Families Act 2014[3]. It involves a two-part test:

a) Does the child or young person have (or may they have) special educational needs?
b) May it be necessary for special education provision to be made for the child or young person through an EHC plan?

What does this mean? Well, according to the law, all you need to demonstrate to secure an EHC needs assessment for your child is that they have or may have special educational needs and that they may need additional provision to be made for them that would require an EHCP. It doesn’t sound like too much, right? In some cases, you’d only really need a report from school to prove your case.

But if the law makes it that simple, then why does the process seem so difficult? The answer to this question lies in the fact that local authorities don’t just follow this two-part test. They add in their own strict criteria with high thresholds of what evidence is required to prove your child ‘passes’ this two-part test.

So, what is it that the local authorities want? To understand this, it helps to have a basic understanding of the SEND Code of Practice. If you’re not familiar with this document, it’s the government’s statutory guidance for organisations working with young people who have special educational needs and disabilities. It’s hundreds of pages long so, unless you want some extra bedtime reading, I’ll give you the relevant highlights:

The first response for a child who is struggling is always high quality teaching and the class teacher is responsible for adapting their teaching to target your child’s areas of weakness.
If your child still isn’t making progress with high quality teaching, the school must assess whether they have special educational needs. Note: this doesn’t necessarily mean sending them for an assessment – it just means assessing what barriers are preventing them from learning and putting in place extra support accordingly.
If your child has been identified as having special educational needs, the school must follow what’s known as the ‘Assess, Plan, Do, Review cycle’ to provide the most appropriate support. This means they need to:
- Assess what your child’s needs are (this could be slow processing speed, high anxiety, difficulty with focus and concentration etc.)
- Plan what additional support your child needs based on the assessment made of their needs
- Do or implement the support they have planned
- Review the support to see what impact it’s had on your child’s progress. If it’s working well, they may not require any more support. If it hasn’t worked and they’re still struggling, the school should start a new cycle of Assess, Plan, Do, Review, increasing the level of provision each time. This cycle is usually documented in an Individual Education Plan (IEP), which is also sometimes called an Individual Support Plan (ISP) or a Learning Support Plan (LSP), and parents should be kept informed throughout this process.

If your child still isn’t making progress with an IEP in place, the school should consult specialist advice. This could be from any number of professionals, such as an educational psychologist, speech and language therapist or mental health practitioner. Any recommendations provided by an external professional should be included in your child’s next IEP, which will then show how the school has implemented the advice.

So now we know what the SEND Code of Practice says, we can go back to what local authorities expect to see before they agree to an EHC needs assessment. First of all, they’ll want evidence that the school has completed at least two Assess, Plan, Do, Review cycles. Secondly, they’ll want to see that the school has consulted with specialists and that the recommendations provided by any external professionals have been implemented and reviewed. On top of that, they’ll want evidence that the school has fully utilised its ‘ordinarily available resources.’ This is a whole topic of its own (we’ll have to talk more about it another day!) but, in simple terms, it means the school has made proper use of its allocated SEN budget to provide for your child.

As you can see, it’s not quite as simple as that two-part legal test we mentioned earlier and when I think about those 22.3% of applications that were refused, it’s not so difficult to imagine where things may have gone wrong. Sadly, I can’t help but wonder, how can we be sure that those cases that were refused didn’t involve some of the most vulnerable children with the most complex needs? How many children are missing out on the support they desperately need and are legally entitled to just because local authorities are applying their own high thresholds that aren’t written into law?

The EHCP application and assessment process can be overwhelming, exhausting and totally mindboggling. If you’re looking to apply for an EHCP for your child, here are a few of my top tips for making your application successful:

Special educational needs are not the same as learning difficulties.
It’s really easy to get the two confused but it’s important to understand that producing a report showing that your child has a learning difficulty, like dyslexia, dyspraxia or autism, doesn’t necessarily prove that they have special educational needs. However, if, for example, their diagnosis of dyslexia means they struggle with reading and can’t read text or questions in the classroom without an adult reading to them, then they require special educational provision to be made for them. When you are writing about your child’s learning difficulties in the application form, remember to explain what impact these difficulties have on their ability to access their education. Explain what it is about their difficulties that mean they require additional support in school. Focus on the special educational needs and not the learning difficulties.
It’s much easier to work with school than against them.
Even if your child’s school doesn’t support your application or won’t make it for you, remember that when you submit a parental request for an EHC needs assessment, the local authority will still ask the school for their advice. If the school doesn’t contribute, or their evidence isn’t up to scratch, your application can fall apart pretty quickly.
If the school doesn’t want to/doesn’t have the time to get involved, keep the SENCO (or teacher) informed of what you’re doing. If you don’t already have them, ask for copies of your child’s IEPs for at least the last two terms so you have that evidence of two completed Assess, Plan, Do, Review cycles. Make sure they say what you need them to say and, if you’re not happy with them, ask for an IEP review meeting so you can talk it through with the SENCO. Request copies of your child’s attendance, attainment and behaviour data. Ask for a copy of your child’s support timetable showing what provision is in place for them and, if you can, ask for details of what this provision costs the school to provide. Include as much evidence as possible with your initial application so you’re not relying on the school to submit it later.
Stick to the legal arguments not the emotional ones.
As awful as this sounds, it’s not the local authority’s problem if your child has cognitive abilities on the 1st percentile or if their symptoms of ASD are making life impossible for them and for you. Remember that this is essentially a legal process and, if your application doesn’t meet their criteria, it really doesn’t matter what you’ve written on that form. Try to write concisely and stick to the facts. Speak to other parents in the same borough or look online to find out what your local authority will demand and make sure you’ve included it in your application.

So there you go. Remember, the tough financial circumstances that your local authority may be in should never be the reason why your child can’t access the support they need. Do your research, know what your child is entitled to and don’t be afraid to ask for it. I hope my advice helps a little somewhere along the way.

Footnotes

[1] https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/education-health-and-care-plans#dataBlock-f4130557-a3fa-412e-9fe9-9fd15a9dd1fe-tables

[2] https://www.countycouncilsnetwork.org.uk/local-authorities-warn-the-governments-special-educational-needs-reforms-will-not-address-councils-2-4bn-deficit/

[3] https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2014/6/section/36/enacted