An Education, Health and Care plan is a legal document. That is the whole point of it, and it is why the process feels so unlike anything else you will do for your child.
Most explanations of EHCPs are written either by local authorities, who want you to understand the process, or by campaigners, who want you to understand your rights. This is written from the clinical side: what an EHCP is, and what a clinical report needs to contain to be genuinely useful in one.
What it actually is
An EHCP describes a child’s special educational needs, the provision required to meet them, and the school or setting named for them. Unlike school-level support, the provision in Section F is legally enforceable — the local authority must secure it.
That legal force is the reason the wording matters so much, and the reason vague provision is a problem rather than a kindness.
Who can ask for one
More people than most parents realise. A parent can request an EHC needs assessment directly. So can a young person over 16, and so can the school or setting. You do not need a diagnosis, and you do not need the school’s permission to ask.
The local authority must decide whether to carry out an assessment, and must tell you. If they refuse, you have a right of appeal — and refusals are appealed successfully often enough that a first “no” should not be read as the end.
The distinction the whole system turns on
Needs are not the same as diagnoses, and provision is not the same as needs.
A diagnosis is a label for a pattern. A need is what this particular child cannot yet do without help. Provision is the specific thing someone will do about it. An EHCP is built from the second and third of those, which is why “has autism” is not, on its own, a useful contribution to one.
Two autistic children can need almost nothing in common. The plan has to describe this child.
What makes a clinical report useful in an EHCP
This is where reports commonly fall down, and it is worth knowing before you commission one.
Specific, quantified, and attributable provision. The long-standing standard is that provision should be specific and normally quantified — how much, how often, delivered by whom, with what expertise. “Will benefit from speech and language input” cannot be enforced, because nobody can say whether it happened. “Weekly individual sessions with a speech and language therapist, for a defined block, targeting X” can be.
Needs described functionally. Not “scored below average on an expressive language measure”, but what that means in a classroom on a Tuesday: cannot follow a two-step instruction given to the group, loses the thread when the teacher rephrases, so appears not to be listening.
A clear line from finding to recommendation. Each recommendation should be traceable to something observed. A list of generic strategies that would suit any child with the same label is the commonest weakness in private reports, and the easiest for a local authority to set aside.
Honesty about uncertainty. A report that says everything is certain is less credible than one that says what is not yet clear and what would resolve it.
What it is not
It is not a funding application, though funding follows. It is not a reward for how bad things have got. And it is not a permanent settlement — it must be reviewed at least annually, and it should change as the child does.
If you are at the start of this
Two things are worth doing before anything else. Put your request in writing and keep a copy. And gather the record you already have — the school’s own notes, any therapy reports, your own log of what you have seen. The strength of an EHC needs assessment request rests far more on documented need than on the eloquence of the letter.
Where we fit
We assess children at our Ickenham clinic in West London. Our reports are written to be read by schools and local authorities as well as by parents — how we assess sets out what that involves, and how we work with schools explains the part that happens after the report.
If you are unsure whether an assessment would actually strengthen your case, ask us. Sometimes the answer is that the evidence you need is educational rather than clinical, and we will say so.
This article is general information about the EHCP process in England. It is not legal advice, and it is not advice about your individual child. For independent advice on SEND law, your local Information, Advice and Support Service (SENDIASS) is free and impartial.