How to Request a Statutory Assessment in Northern Ireland

Requesting a statutory assessment is the formal step that can eventually lead to your child receiving a Statement of Special Educational Needs — the legally binding document that compels the Education Authority (EA) to fund specific provision. In Northern Ireland, 85% of Statements are issued outside the statutory 26-week deadline, which means understanding the process and holding the EA to its legal obligations is essential from day one.

Who Can Request a Statutory Assessment

Any parent or carer can make a direct request to the EA for a statutory assessment under the Education (Northern Ireland) Order 1996. You do not need permission from the school, the LSC, or any medical professional. Schools and independent professionals can also make requests, but if your school is reluctant, you do not need to wait.

The EA must consider any parental request. Once received, they must send a "Notice of Consideration" within 10 days and make a formal decision on whether to assess within six weeks.

What Your Request Letter Must Include

Your letter should be addressed to the Education Officer (Special Education) at the EA and must make clear, from the first sentence, that you are making a formal request for statutory assessment under the Education (Northern Ireland) Order 1996.

The letter needs to demonstrate two things: that your child has significant learning difficulties, and that the school's provision at Stages 1 and 2 has been insufficient to meet those needs. Include:

• A summary of your child's diagnoses and the specific difficulties affecting their learning
• Details of the school's current provision — what support is in place, for how many hours, by whom
• Evidence that this provision has not produced adequate progress
• A clear statement that the school cannot fully meet your child's needs from its own budget

SENAC recommends that parents describe their child's difficulties in practical terms: what they cannot do independently, what a typical difficult day looks like, and what happens when support is not in place.

The 26-Week Timeline

Once the EA agrees to assess, the clock starts. The statutory deadline is 26 weeks from the date of the original request, not from the date the EA agreed to assess.

Weeks 0–6: Request and Decision. The EA issues a Notice of Consideration within 10 days. Parents are given approximately 22 days to submit Parental Representations (Appendix A1) and Parental Evidence (Appendix A2) — detailed forms documenting your child's needs, early history, and home impact. This window is short and the forms are demanding. The EA makes its decision on whether to proceed with assessment by week 6. A refusal at this stage carries an immediate right of appeal to the SENDIST tribunal within two months.

Weeks 6–16: Multi-Disciplinary Assessment. If assessment is approved, the EA gathers "advice" from multiple sources: parents (via the Appendix A forms), the school, an Educational Psychologist, medical professionals, social services if involved, and EA specialist support teachers. A named officer is assigned to your family. The EA's Educational Psychology Service provides the central report.

Weeks 16–18: Decision on Statementing. After reviewing all advice, the EA decides whether a Statement is required. If not, they issue a "Note in Lieu" explaining why — which is also appealable. If a Statement is needed, they issue a Proposed Statement (a draft).

Weeks 18–26: Proposed Statement, Parental Response, and Finalisation. The Proposed Statement arrives with copies of all professional reports gathered during assessment. Parents have exactly 15 days to submit written representations challenging any wording, requesting a meeting with the named EA officer, and stating a preference for a named school. After parental representations, the EA consults the preferred school, which has 15 days to respond. The final Statement should be issued by week 26.

The Parental Evidence Forms (Appendix A1 and A2)

These two forms are among the most important documents in the entire process. Appendix A1 is your opportunity to describe your child's needs from a parent's perspective — not in clinical language, but in concrete, specific terms that capture what daily life actually involves.

SENAC advises parents to describe their child on their "worst day." What happens when they face a sensory overload? What does a morning routine look like? How long does homework take? What behaviours does the school not see because they mask at school and decompress at home? The EA's Educational Psychologist is seeing a child in a structured test environment — your evidence documents the full picture.

Appendix A2 allows you to submit supporting evidence: medical and therapy reports, previous EP assessments, CAMHS correspondence, and school incident logs.

Independent Educational Psychologists

The EA relies primarily on its own Educational Psychologists, who are employed by the body responsible for funding any subsequent provision. Some parents commission independent EP assessments when they believe the EA's report understates the child's needs or lacks specificity about required provision.

If you pursue an independent EP assessment, ensure the psychologist is registered with the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC). Without HCPC registration, their evidence will carry little weight at an EA assessment or SENDIST appeal. Ask the independent EP to specifically address the quantification of provision in Part 3 terms — exact hours, ratios, and professional qualifications required to deliver each intervention.

When the EA Is Running Late

The 26-week deadline is statutory, not advisory. If the EA misses key milestones — the 10-day Notice of Consideration, the 6-week decision, or the week 26 final Statement — write formally to confirm the breach and request an explanation. Keep records of all correspondence with dates.

For help building your evidence bundle before the request, drafting the Appendix A1 parental representations, and monitoring the EA's compliance with its own deadlines, the Northern Ireland SEN Statement Blueprint provides checklists and template letters tailored to the NI statutory framework.

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