CLICK TO DOWNLOAD: Letter to LA when it delays starting or concluding an EHC needs assessment due to a staff shortage of educational psychologists (or other professionals/services) (template letter 25)

This template letter is for general advice purposes and will need to be tailored to your own individual circumstances. Please read all of the information on this page and, if possible, we recommend you take advice on using this letter.   

You can use this letter if your local authority (LA) has said your child or young person’s EHC needs assessment will not start, or will be delayed by, a staff shortage of educational psychologists.

You can also use this letter if you have been told that there is a shortage of other professionals or services impacting the EHC needs assessment.

Which professionals must my LA get advice from during an EHC needs assessment?

When an LA is carrying out an EHC needs assessment, it must obtain information and advice from a range of people. This includes an educational psychologist (sometimes referred to as an EP).

This means your LA must get information and advice from an educational psychologist, and in time to meet its legal deadlines.

You may have asked your LA to obtain information and advice from other professionals/services as a reasonable request. This might include a speech and language therapist (sometimes called SALT) or an occupational therapist (often shortened to an OT), depending on your child or young person’s needs. If your LA has agreed to such a reasonable request, it must then obtain that advice from those requested professionals/services as well.

What about staff shortages?

Many LAs tell parents and young people that they cannot start an EHC needs assessment, or that it will be delayed, because of staff shortages, particularly LA employed educational psychologists.

As we explain on our website, staff shortages are not a lawful reason to delay an EHC needs assessment.

Getting all the information and advice required during an EHC needs assessment and meeting the relevant legal deadline are hard edged legal duties and LAs must comply with them.

That may mean your LA needs to find other ways to get educational psychology advice, for example, which may include obtaining it from an independent educational psychologist rather than one employed by the LA.

What are the deadlines my LA must meet?

In most cases, the deadline which applies is:

• If no EHC plan is going to be issued following the EHC needs assessment, the LA must tell the parent or the young person within a maximum of 16 weeks from the date the LA receives the request for assessment.
• If an EHC plan is to be issued after the EHC needs assessment, then the final plan needs to be issued within a maximum of 20 weeks from the date the LA receives the request for the assessment.

There are a few minor exceptions to these deadlines, which are set out in regulation 10 and 13 of The SEND Regulations 2014. Staff shortages is not one of them.

The only other times the above deadlines may vary are if the LA initially refused to carry out an EHC needs assessment, but:

If	Then
later agreed to carry one out during mediation	Unless the parties agreed different deadlines, the default deadlines are: If no EHC plan is going to be issued following the EHC needs assessment, the LA must tell the parent or the young person within a maximum of 10 weeks from the date of the mediation agreement. If an EHC plan is to be issued after the EHC needs assessment, then the final plan needs to be issued within a maximum of 14 weeks from the date of the mediation agreement.
an appeal was made about this decision and before the LA’s response to the appeal, the LA tells the Tribunal that it will carry out the assessment	If no EHC plan is going to be issued following the EHC needs assessment, the LA must tell the parent or the young person within a maximum of 10 weeks from the date of the LA’s notification to the SEND Tribunal. If an EHC plan is to be issued after the EHC needs assessment, then the final plan needs to be issued within a maximum of 14 weeks from the date of the LA’s notification to the SEND Tribunal.
an appeal was made about this decision and in/after its response to the appeal, the LA agrees to carry out the assessment	Unless the parties have agreed a different deadline, the default deadlines are: If no EHC plan is going to be issued following the EHC needs assessment, the LA must tell the parent or the young person within a maximum of 10 weeks from the date of the Tribunal’s consent order. If an EHC plan is to be issued after the EHC needs assessment, then the final plan needs to be issued within a maximum of 14 weeks from the date of the Tribunal’s consent order.
an appeal was made about this decision, and the LA is ordered to carry the assessment out by the SEND Tribunal	If no EHC plan is going to be issued following the EHC needs assessment, the LA must tell the parent or the young person within a maximum of 10 weeks from the date of the Tribunal’s order. If an EHC plan is to be issued after the EHC needs assessment, then the final plan needs to be issued within a maximum of 14 weeks from the date of the Tribunal’s order.

Again though, staff shortages are not lawful exceptions to these deadlines.

When should I write to my LA?

You should send this letter to your LA as soon as it tells you it cannot start the EHC needs assessment or is going to delay concluding it due to staff shortages.

This letter reminds your LA of its legal duties and asks it to confirm what steps the LA is putting in place to make sure they are met.

Who should I write to?

You can use this letter to write to the top person at the LA, usually the Director of Children’s Services. You can find this information and contact details for this person on the Association of Directors of Children's Services website.

It may help to copy in the LA’s monitoring officer, your ward councillor, and the LA case worker or officer you have been dealing with as well.

Remember to keep a copy of any letter or email you send.

What should I do next?

Check what your LA says in response to your letter.

You should take further action if your LA fails to say if and how it is going to make sure that it gets the information and advice required in time to meet its obligations.

You should also take further action if your LA says what steps it will put in place but then fails to, and this means there is still a delay.

Depending on your situation, you can use our following template letters to alert your LA to the situation, and seek advice as explained on the below links:

If	Then
your LA agreed to carry out an EHC needs assessment and delays risk the 16/20 week deadline being missed, or have been missed	use template letter 10a or 10b and take advice.
your LA refused to issue an EHC plan following the EHC needs assessment, then agreed to do so at mediation, and delays risk the 10/14 week deadline (or other agreed deadlines) being missed, or have been missed	use template letter 23 and take advice.
your LA refused to carry out an EHC needs assessment and after you submitted an appeal, your LA: agreed to assess before its response agreed to assess in/after its response, or is ordered to assess by the SEND Tribunal, and delays  risk the 10/14 week deadline being missed, or have been missed	use template letter 16 and take advice.

Getting further support

If you need further advice or you use this template letter and do not get a reply to your request after five working days you can book an advice line appointment with IPSEA, use our call-in service, or take advice and get help with judicial review from a legal aid provider or other organisation.