[Insert your address and contact details here.]
[Insert the name and address of the Director of Children’s Services or Special Educational Needs Disability Officer (SENDO) (if known) at your local authority.]
Dear Sir or Madam
Re: [Insert the name of your child and their date of birth]
Request for EHC needs assessment
I am writing as the parent/carer [delete as appropriate] of the above child/young person to request an assessment of their Education, Health and Social Care needs under section 36 (1) of the Children and Families Act 2014.
[Insert name of your child] currently attends [name of nursery/school/college].
Or, [Insert name of your child] is out of nursery/school/college. [Delete as appropriate.]
I understand that the test that the local authority must apply when considering this request is contained in section 36 (8) of the Children and Families Act 2014.
[If your child has a ‘known’ special educational need – for example, a vision impairment, give details of this here. List all your child’s Special Educational Needs (SEN) here in priority of significance.]
[Insert name of your child] has the following Special Educational Needs (SEN):
- A vision impairment: my child has been diagnosed as having [insert the name of your child’s eye condition here. If they have more than one, list them as bullet points.]
- My child is currently under the care of [insert the name of your child’s eye care professional, for example, their ophthalmologist or optometrist.]
- [Insert your child’s name] is registered severely sight impaired/blind (SSI) or sight impaired/partially sighted (SI) [delete as appropriate].
[NB: If you already have copies of your child’s latest clinical reports and Certificate of Visual Impairment (CVI), you could attach them, with this letter, to an email marked for the attention of the Director of Children’s Services and/or Special Educational Needs Disability Officer (SENDO).
If you’re not sending this letter by email, you could enclose photocopies of these documents with the letter and send it by recorded delivery. Note that attaching the documents is helpful but not obligatory.
If your child is currently in an education setting (nursery, school or college), you may feel the setting doesn’t or can’t provide the specialist support and resources your child needs, for example a specialist modified curriculum (adapted and enlarged to suit individual needs), specialist equipment or opportunities to develop specialist skills such as independent living skills. If this is the case, you should use the second part of this letter to outline all the reasons why you feel they can’t meet your child’s needs:]
I believe [insert name of your child]’s nursery/school/college [delete as appropriate] cannot meet my child/young person’s needs as outlined below:
I am aware that as a local authority you are required, by law, to reply to this request within a six-week period and if you refuse my request for an EHC needs assessment, I will be able to exercise my right of appeal to the Special Educational Needs Tribunal.
Please do not hesitate to contact me should you require any further information. I look forward to hearing from you soon.
Yours faithfully
[Insert your name here]
......................................
[Your name] on behalf of [name of your child]