EHCP for School Refusal and Anxiety: How UK Parents Can Get One

When SEN Support Isn't Enough

Your child has an anxiety diagnosis and hasn't been in school for months. The school has tried a few things — a buddy system, a quiet room at lunchtime, maybe a reduced timetable nobody wrote down. None of it has worked. The attendance team is sending letters, and the SENCO is sympathetic but out of ideas.

This is where an Education, Health and Care Plan comes in. An EHCP sets out special educational needs and required provision. The local authority must secure the special educational provision in Section F; health and social-care provision have their own responsible bodies and duties. Unlike informal SEN Support, an EHCP cannot be quietly shelved when budgets tighten or staff change.

For children with anxiety-driven school refusal (sometimes called emotionally based school avoidance or EBSA), an EHCP can secure things SEN Support cannot: specialist placement, home tuition, therapeutic provision, and a formal plan that follows the child across schools.

Requesting an EHC Needs Assessment

Any parent can request an EHC needs assessment under Section 36 of the Children and Families Act 2014. You do not need the school's permission or cooperation — although the school can also make the request, many delay because the process requires effort and evidence-gathering.

The statutory test for agreeing to assess is deliberately low: the local authority must consider whether the child has or may have SEN, and whether it may be necessary for special educational provision to be made through an EHCP. A child whose anxiety affects access to education may meet these conditions, but the local authority must decide from the evidence.

How to make the request: Write to the local authority's SEN team (not just the school). Name your child, their school, their diagnosis, and a summary of what support has been tried and why it has failed. Attach clinical evidence — a letter from CAMHS, a private psychologist, or your GP stating the diagnosis and its impact on school attendance. State that you are requesting an EHC needs assessment under Section 36 of the Children and Families Act 2014.

The local authority has six weeks to decide whether to assess. If it agrees, the full assessment process takes up to 20 weeks from the initial request.

What Evidence Strengthens the Application

Local authorities refuse a large proportion of initial requests. The most common reason cited is that the school has not yet demonstrated that it has exhausted SEN Support. To counter this, your request should include:

Professional evidence: Letters from CAMHS, a clinical psychologist, a psychiatrist, or a private therapist. The letter should name the diagnosis, state that the condition substantially affects the child's ability to access education, and explain why current school-level support is insufficient.

Attendance data: A printout from the school showing the attendance percentage and pattern of absences. If the school has been coding absences as unauthorised, challenge this separately — but include the data regardless, because a 30% attendance rate speaks for itself.

A log of what's been tried: List every intervention the school has attempted (reduced timetable, safe space, key worker, sensory adjustments) and how each one failed. If the school hasn't tried much, that also strengthens your case — it shows the child has been left without adequate support.

Your own evidence: A parent-written account of daily life — the morning distress, the somatic symptoms, the effect on family and siblings. SEND Tribunals take parent evidence seriously, and your account of what happens at 7 AM every morning carries weight that professional reports cannot replicate.

What If the LA Says No

If the local authority refuses to assess, you generally have two months from the decision letter, or one month from the mediation certificate, whichever is later, to appeal to the SEND Tribunal. Refusal rates are high but so are overturn rates at tribunal — many LAs concede before the hearing when they see the evidence formally assembled.

Before appealing, ask the LA for its written reasons. If the refusal says "the school can meet needs through SEN Support," your appeal should show exactly why SEN Support has failed. If the refusal says "insufficient evidence of SEN," your appeal should include updated clinical evidence explicitly linking the anxiety diagnosis to special educational needs.

Organisations like IPSEA (Independent Provider of Special Education Advice) and SOS!SEN offer free guidance on tribunal appeals.

Section 19: Your Parallel Right

While the EHCP process runs, your child still has a right to education. Section 19 of the Education Act 1996 requires the local authority to arrange suitable education for a child of compulsory school age who, because of illness or another reason, would otherwise not receive it. The statutory guidance covers mental health needs, including anxiety.

An EHCP is not a prerequisite for a Section 19 arrangement. If anxiety is preventing your child from attending and they would otherwise not receive suitable education, ask the local authority to assess its duty while the EHCP process continues.

Many LAs fail to fulfil this duty. If yours is not providing alternative education, write to the LA citing Section 19 and the statutory guidance "Arranging education for children who cannot attend school because of health needs." Request a prompt start date and a specific offer of provision; DfE guidance says a child should not be without access to education for more than 15 school days, and provision should start from the beginning of an absence when a long or recurring absence is clear.

What an EHCP Can Provide

Once issued, an EHCP can include:

• Specialist school placement (an anxiety-informed provision, a smaller setting, or online school)
• Home tuition funded by the LA during the re-entry period
• Therapeutic provision (art therapy, play therapy, clinical psychology sessions)
• Occupational therapy for sensory needs
• A formal graded return plan with legally enforceable timelines and review dates
• Transport arrangements that reduce school-entry anxiety (a taxi rather than a school bus, arrival before other students)

The local authority must secure the special educational provision named in Section F. If it fails to do so, raise this with the LA and consider its complaints process or legal advice; the SEND Tribunal hears appeals about LA decisions and EHCP content or placement.

The Anxiety & School Refusal IEP/504 Playbook includes UK-specific templates for the EHC needs assessment request, the Section 19 education request, and the penalty notice response — all grounded in the Children and Families Act 2014 and the Equality Act 2010.