Dyscalculia UK EHCP: Getting an Education, Health and Care Plan for a Math Learning Difficulty

Your child's school has them on SEN Support for maths. The SENCO created a support plan, maybe arranged some small-group work, possibly brought in a teaching assistant for certain lessons. And nothing has shifted. The same gaps. The same distress over homework. The same feeling that the school is managing the problem rather than solving it.

You've started hearing about Education, Health and Care Plans — the legal document that actually mandates specific provision and funds it. But every time you raise it, someone tells you EHCPs are for "more complex needs" or "more severe cases." What they're really saying is that dyscalculia alone rarely gets one.

They're not entirely wrong about the statistics. But they're wrong about the law.

SEN Support vs EHCP — What Each Actually Provides

Under the SEND Code of Practice 2015, SEN Support is the first tier. The school's SENCO coordinates adjustments using the Assess-Plan-Do-Review cycle, drawing on ordinarily available resources. This might include differentiated work, access to manipulatives, extra time on assessments, or Tier 2 group intervention.

SEN Support is school-managed and does not specify a quantified minimum level of provision for each student. The school still has duties under the SEND framework, but SEN Support does not provide the individually specified provision of an EHCP. If the school's response is not meeting your child's needs, document that and consider requesting an EHC needs assessment.

An EHCP is a legal document issued by the local authority. It names specific provision — specialist teaching hours, particular programmes, assistive technology — and the local authority must fund it. It's reviewed annually. It's enforceable through the SEND Tribunal if the provision isn't delivered.

When Dyscalculia Qualifies for an EHCP

The legal test for an EHC needs assessment (Section 36 of the Children and Families Act 2014) is whether the child "has or may have special educational needs" and whether "it may be necessary for special educational provision to be made for the child in accordance with an EHC plan."

Notice the threshold: "may have" and "may be necessary." The local authority doesn't need certainty that the child's needs exceed what a school can provide — it needs a reasonable basis to investigate.

For dyscalculia, the case for assessment strengthens when:

• SEN Support has been delivered and documented through multiple Assess-Plan-Do-Review cycles without adequate progress
• A diagnostic report from a qualified Specialist Teacher Assessor (with a current SASC Assessment Practising Certificate) or an Educational Psychologist identifies dyscalculia as a Specific Learning Difficulty
• The child's needs exceed what ordinarily available resources can address — they need specialist one-to-one intervention, specific programmes like Numicon or Catch Up Numeracy delivered by a trained practitioner, or assistive technology the school cannot fund internally
• The gap between maths and other subjects is widening despite school intervention

Local authorities frequently refuse to assess children whose primary difficulty is maths on the grounds that the needs can be met from within the school's SEN budget. This is a judgment call, not a legal rule, and it can be challenged.

The Assessment Request Process

You don't need the school's permission or cooperation to request an EHC needs assessment. Parents have the right to request directly from the local authority (Section 36(1)(b)).

Write to the local authority's SEN team. Your letter should include:

• Your child's diagnostic reports
• Evidence that SEN Support has been insufficient (progress data, Assess-Plan-Do-Review records showing the same targets repeated cycle after cycle)
• A description of what your child needs that exceeds ordinarily available provision
• The impact on your child's education, emotional wellbeing, and daily functioning

The local authority has six weeks to decide whether to assess. If they refuse, you have the right to appeal to the SEND Tribunal. Include evidence that school-level support has been tried and documented as insufficient.

Getting Dyscalculia Properly Identified in the UK

Formal identification requires assessment by either a Specialist Teacher Assessor holding a current SASC Assessment Practising Certificate (APC) or an Educational Psychologist. School-level SENCO identification is not a formal diagnosis. A SASC-compliant report is needed for formal exam access arrangements and post-16 DSA; an EHC needs assessment can be requested under the statutory needs test without first obtaining a dyscalculia diagnosis.

The assessment should include standardised measures of number sense, calculation fluency (timed and untimed), mathematical reasoning, and underpinning cognitive processes including working memory and processing speed. A report that tests only broad maths achievement without isolating the specific numerical processing deficits won't establish the condition's neurological basis.

For exam access arrangements (JCQ Form 8), a SASC-compliant report is specifically required. For post-16 students, a formal report is also needed for Disabled Students' Allowance applications.

What to Put in the EHCP

If assessment leads to a plan, the specificity of Section F (Special Educational Provision) determines whether the EHCP is actually useful. Push for:

• Named intervention programmes and delivery frequency (e.g., "Catch Up Numeracy, three 30-minute sessions per week, delivered by a trained practitioner")
• Specialist teaching hours — not teaching assistant support, but qualified specialist instruction
• Calculator access and other assistive technology specified as provision, not optional adjustments
• Annual review targets tied to standardised measures of number sense, not just teacher assessment

Vague provision ("access to additional maths support as needed") is unenforceable. Named, quantified, timetabled provision is what makes an EHCP more than a piece of paper.

The Dyscalculia Support Kit includes a UK jurisdictional guide covering the SEN Support-to-EHCP pathway, assessment requirements, and the legal provisions for challenging local authority refusals — alongside the advocacy tools and evaluation checklists that apply across all four jurisdictions.