Request an education, health and care needs assessment

Before you start the application, you should have your supporting documents to hand.

You can make a request by:

• Creating an EHC needs assessment through our Children's Portal
• or by contacting your local SEN team.

Support for applying via our children’s portal

Guidance on using our children’s portal to submit an EHC needs assessment application can be found on the support page.

What happens next?

The EHCP Casework Officer will coordinate and submit advice and information for consideration at panels. We'll tell you within six weeks if we will do an EHC needs assessment.

The process takes 20 weeks. The SEN timeline document (pdf format, 765 KB) explains this process in more detail.

Understanding communication during the Assessment process:

EHCP Casework team – Communication escalation process

The Education, Health and Care casework team is dedicated to providing a high-quality service, and we understand the importance of clear and timely communication. We do appreciate that at times this is not always the experience for families and as such when dealing with casework involving your child, it's essential to know the escalation routes available within our team to ensure that any concerns or issues are addressed promptly and effectively.

All members of the team are expected to meet OCC’s requirement for communication with parents/families and settings with responses expected within five working days, the escalation process is outlined below if a response is not received within these timescales:

1. Your Assigned EHCP Caseworker Officer or Assessment Officer (if your child is currently going through statutory assessment): Your primary point of contact, who knows your case best and can provide direct assistance and updates.
2. Business Support Team: If you have not received a response within the above timeframes, you can contact the business support team at 01865 815275, who can direct your concerns appropriately.
3. Senior Casework Officer: If you feel your concerns are not being adequately addressed, you can escalate the matter to the Senior Casework Officer, who oversees the caseworker officers and can intervene to resolve your issue.
4. Lead Casework Officer: Should further escalation be necessary, the next step is to contact the Lead Casework Officer, who will ensure your query is handled with the utmost care and attention.

By following these escalation routes, you can be confident that multiple layers of support are available to address your concerns and ensure the best possible outcome for your child.

Please refer to the attached structure chart for details on the different teams and levels of management. Generally, all email addresses for officers follow the format firstname.secondname@oxfordshire.gov.uk.