School Not Supporting Your EHCP Application: What You Can Do
"The SENCO says they don't think he'd get it." "The school told us to wait another term." "They said she's making progress so they won't back an assessment."
If any of this sounds familiar, you are not alone. And the school is wrong — not just in judgment, but legally.
Schools are not the gatekeeper for EHC needs assessment requests. They do not have a veto over whether you apply. Understanding where the school's authority ends, and where yours begins, is the most important thing to know when the system appears to be blocking you.
What the School Actually Controls
Schools have significant responsibilities in the SEND system. They must use their "best endeavours" to ensure that pupils with SEN receive appropriate support. They must have a SENCO. They must publish an SEN Information Report. They are legally required to follow the graduated approach — Assess, Plan, Do, Review — to identify and respond to learning difficulties before and alongside statutory processes.
What they do not control is your right to request an EHC needs assessment.
Under Section 36(1) of the Children and Families Act 2014, a request for an EHC needs assessment can be made by:
- A parent
- A young person aged 16 to 25
- A school or other educational setting
Parents are listed first for a reason. You do not need the school's permission. You do not need the SENCO to agree. You do not need the school to submit the referral on your behalf. You submit it yourself, directly to the local authority.
The Legal Test: Lower Than Schools Claim
Local authorities — and schools, acting as informal gatekeepers — frequently apply criteria for agreeing to an EHC needs assessment that are far stricter than the law requires. The actual legal test, set out in Section 36(8) of the Children and Families Act 2014, is deliberately low:
The local authority must carry out an assessment if it is of the opinion that:
- The child may have special educational needs, AND
- It may be necessary for special educational provision to be made via an EHCP
"May have" and "may be necessary" are low thresholds. The child does not need a formal diagnosis. They do not need to have failed a specific number of years behind their peers. There is no requirement that the school has spent exactly £6,000 of its delegated budget on the child's support. These are unlawful local criteria that some authorities and schools apply — and they are superseded by the statutory test.
If the SENCO tells you that the school "won't back it" because the child is "only a bit behind" or because "we haven't exhausted all our resources yet," those are not legal reasons to prevent an assessment. They may be sincere professional judgments. They may not even be wrong about the likely outcome. But they do not override Section 36(8).
When SEN Support Is Not Working
The graduated approach — Assess, Plan, Do, Review — is the framework schools use to provide SEN support before or alongside an EHCP. When it works, it is genuinely useful. The SENCO identifies needs, puts interventions in place, reviews their effectiveness, and adjusts. Some children make adequate progress within this system and do not require an EHCP.
But the graduated approach can also be used as an indefinite holding pattern. Schools that are stretched, underfunded, or facing pressures on their SEND budget may cycle a child through repeated Assess, Plan, Do, Review cycles without meaningful progress, always promising the next review will tell more.
If your child has been on the SEN register for a year or more without making adequate progress — if they are still struggling academically, socially, or emotionally despite interventions, if they are becoming increasingly distressed about school, or if there is a growing gap between them and their peers — the SEN Support framework has, for your child, not worked. That is itself evidence supporting an assessment request.
You do not need to wait for the school to agree this is the case.
Free Download
Get the England SEND Dispute Letter Starter Kit
Everything in this article as a printable checklist — plus action plans and reference guides you can start using today.
Submitting Your Own Request
A parent-submitted EHC needs assessment request should be a formal, written document addressed to the SEN department of the local authority. It does not need to be a legal brief. It does need to be specific.
Structure your request around the two-part legal test:
Part 1: Evidence of SEN. What are your child's specific difficulties? What reports, diagnoses, or assessments support this? (You can reference school records, GP letters, private diagnoses, or SENCO correspondence — anything that shows your child has or may have special educational needs.)
Part 2: Evidence that an EHCP may be necessary. What is the school currently doing? Why is it not enough? What progress (or lack of progress) has your child made? If possible, attach provision maps, SEN reviews, or reports showing the interventions that have been tried and their limited effect.
Send the request recorded delivery, or by email with a read receipt. Keep a copy. Note the date. The local authority has exactly six weeks from receiving your request to decide whether to carry out the assessment.
What to Do If the School Refuses to Cooperate
Sometimes the problem is not just that the school won't back your request — it is that they are actively uncooperative. The SENCO won't share provision maps. The school will not write a supporting report. They decline to submit advice during the assessment process.
Here is the important distinction: a school's cooperation during the assessment process is the LA's responsibility to secure, not yours. The local authority, once it agrees to assess, must seek advice from educational, medical, psychological, health, and care professionals. Schools are required to submit information to the LA when requested. If the school fails to cooperate with the LA's assessment process, the LA should be chasing them — and you should be escalating to the LA if they are not.
For your initial request, you can build your own evidence bundle independently of the school. Private diagnoses, independent professional assessments, GP reports, and your own written account of your child's difficulties are all valid evidence. Many successful EHCNA requests are submitted with limited school involvement.
If the Request Is Refused
If the local authority refuses to carry out the assessment, it must give you written reasons and inform you of your right to appeal. You have two calendar months from the date of the decision letter to appeal to the First-tier Tribunal using Form SEND35.
Appeals against refusal to assess are among the most commonly registered — and most commonly successful — SEND Tribunal appeals. In 2023/24, 5,722 appeals were registered against refusal to assess. Local authorities lose the overwhelming majority.
The England SEND Tribunal Playbook includes a step-by-step guide to building an assessment request that directly addresses the two-part legal test, as well as templates for challenging a refusal and preparing for Tribunal if the LA refuses to back down.
The SENCO Is Not Your Enemy
One important note: SENCOs are often doing their best within systems that are under-resourced and under enormous administrative pressure. A SENCO who says "we don't think he'd get an assessment" may be giving you genuinely held professional advice based on their experience with what local panels approve.
They may be right that the LA will refuse. That does not mean you should not apply. A refusal triggers an appeal right. A non-application triggers nothing.
The SENCO's job is to support your child's needs within the school. Your job is to ensure your child's legal rights are enforced. These roles do not always align, and they do not need to.
Get Your Free England SEND Dispute Letter Starter Kit
Download the England SEND Dispute Letter Starter Kit — a printable guide with checklists, scripts, and action plans you can start using today.