Early Years frequently asked questions (FAQ's)

If you are concerned about your child’s development, you should speak to your health visitor or doctor (GP). They may be able to refer you on to specialists. You should also speak to your child’s setting (if they have one) about your concerns, to see if there is any support that they can put in place. 

If your setting agrees that your child has Special Educational Needs, they will follow the Graduated Response of support. 

You can also attend our SENDIASS ‘What you need to know if your child has additional needs’ training session. 

Every child with Special Educational Needs (SEN) should have SEN support. This means help that is additional to or different from the support generally given to other children of the same age. The purpose of SEN support is to help children achieve the outcomes or learning objectives set for them by the setting. Parents should be involved in this process.

Your setting will follow the Graduated Response - assess, plan, do, review cycle. They will assess your child’s needs, put a plan of support in place including time bound targets, they will carry out the plan over a period of time and then review it. This cycle will continue. Parents or carers should be involved in the review process. It is a good idea to share with your setting any reports or information from other professionals involved with your child for example, paediatricians. These will feed into the support plan. It is important to ask your setting for copies of your child’s plans and keep these safe. 

You can find a copy of the Graduated Response document on our SEND Support and EHCP webpage.

The setting may be able to request additional funding from the local authority to support a child’s special educational needs. Most children’s needs can be met within this. You can speak to your setting for further information about this funding. If you or the setting feel your child needs more support, you may want to request an Education Health Care Needs Assessment. 

An EHCP is an Education Health and Care Plan. In most cases schools and settings will be able to meet individual needs through SEN support from their own resources and expertise. However, some children and young people may need support that is over and above this and may benefit from an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP).

An Education, Health and Care plan (EHC plan) is a legal document written by the Local Authority that describes a child’s special educational needs (SEN) and the help they will get to meet them. An EHC plan also includes any health and care provision that is needed. The local authority is responsible for providing the educational provision stated in the plan and will allocate appropriate funding to the named setting to put this in place. If you feel that your child may need more than the SEN support, you may want to request an Education Health Care Needs Assessment. 

Prior to an EHC plan being produced, an Education, Health and Care Needs Assessment must take place to determine whether an EHCP is needed. A request for a needs assessment can be made to the Local Authority by you through a parental request or by your child’s setting with your agreement. You can make a parental request by emailing or writing a letter to the Local Authority SEN Team or through their online portal. Further details including a template letter, can be found on our SEN support and EHCP page. You will need to include your reasons for the request and any evidence you have to support it. It is a good idea to discuss your concerns with your setting to find out what evidence they have of your child’s SEN needs and the support that is already in place for your child. Also, consider any evidence you have from other professionals, for example a Speech and Language Therapist. 

The legal test for a Local Authority to carry out a Needs Assessment is: the child or young person has or may have special educational needs, and it may be necessary for special educational provision to be made for the child or young person in accordance with an EHC plan. 

The Local Authority (LA) will therefore, consider your evidence, looking at your child’s needs and what provision may be required. They will first decide if a needs assessment is necessary. They must do this within 6 weeks of receiving your request. If they agree, they will carry out the assessment. From the assessment they will decide if your child needs an EHC Plan or not. The local authority will look at: 

• your child’s attainments and rate of progress
• their special educational needs
• what has already been done
• the difference that support has made
• your child’s physical, emotional and social development and health needs

Assuming they agree to assess and then agree to issue a plan, the LA have 20 weeks from the date they receive your request to finalise an EHC Plan.

To get an EHCP you first need to request an Education, Health and Care Needs Assessment (EHCNA). As a parent or carer you can make a request for a EHCNA yourselves. Please see ‘How do I request a needs assessment for an EHCP?’ above to find out how to do this. 

An annual review is a review of your child’s Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP). The local authority must review it at least once a year (or every six months for under-fives) so that it can change as your child changes. The annual review is a review of the EHC plan, rather than a general meeting to talk about your child’s progress. 

The purpose of the review is to: 

• bring together yours and your child’s views as well as the views of everyone else who helps your child
• review how well the outcomes set in the plan, are being achieved
• consider whether the provision and support detailed in the Education Health and Care Plan is still effective and relevant and to discuss whether it is working or needs to change
• set new targets for the next 12 months

The annual review is the whole process of reviewing the EHC plan. The review meeting is just one part of an annual review.

An annual review consists of five parts: 

1. information is collected
2. invitations are sent to the relevant people
3. the annual review meeting is held
4. the head teacher or SENCO writes a report of the review meeting and sends it to you and the local authority
5. the local authority reviews the child’s plan

The review is not completed until all five stages have been done.

During part 1 you as the parent or carer will be asked to provide your views. All information should be sent out to everyone at least 2 weeks before the meeting date. After the meeting, the setting has 2 weeks to write and send out their report to the Local Authority. You will also receive a copy. 

The local authority must then consider the report and decide whether to maintain the EHCP in its current form, amend it or cease the plan. They must notify you and the setting of their decision within four weeks of the date of the annual review meeting. If they decide to amend the plan, they have 8 weeks to finalise it. You will get your appeal rights once the plan is finalised. 

Your nursery will have a transition process that they will follow. You can speak to them to find out what this looks like. When primary school placements are allocated in April, you need to inform your setting of your allocated school. Usually, the school and nursery will liaise to discuss your child’s needs. The teachers may come to visit your child at nursery, and you should be offered settling in sessions at school in the summer term before they start. Once you have a place, you can also contact the school and ask to speak to the SEN Coordinator (SENCO) to discuss your child’s needs and any concerns you have. Like nursery, the school will follow the same Graduated Response- assess, plan, do, review cycle. You can find a copy of this document on our SEND Support and EHCP webpage. Schools have a notional budget to support children with SEN needs. Most children’s needs can be met within this. 

You can also help your child to prepare for the transition to school by having conversations with them about school, practicing their new school journey, trying on uniform in advance and looking at photos of the school on their website. 

Our Tips for Transition webpage has suggestions to help with this. 

To get an EHCP you first need to request a Needs Assessment. You can request a needs assessment whenever you like. To find out how to do this please see ‘How do I request a needs assessment for an EHCP?’ above. 

You need to think about what evidence you have. Talk to your setting and any other professionals involved with your daughter to gather evidence about her needs. The Local Authority (LA) will consider your evidence, looking at your child’s needs and what provision may be required. They will first decide if a needs assessment is necessary. If they agree, they will carry out the assessment. From the assessment they will decide if your daughter needs an EHC Plan or not. 

The SEND Code of Practice states that for children within one to two years of starting compulsory education who are likely to need an EHC plan in primary school, it will often be appropriate to prepare an EHC plan during this period, so the EHC plan is in place to support the transition to primary school. So, the LA will need to consider what support your daughter may need in the next phase of education not just what she needs now. 

Assuming they agree to assess and then agree to issue a plan, the LA have 20 weeks from the date they receive your request to finalise an EHC Plan. So, you need to consider this time frame when requesting an assessment. If the LA don’t agree to assess or issue the plan you may need to appeal and that will therefore increase the timeframe. You also need to be aware that when a child already has an EHC Plan in place and they are due to start reception in September of that year, their plans will be finalised naming the next setting or type of setting by 15 February. 

A phase transfer is when children and young people move between phases of education in this case, from early years to primary. 

If your child already has an EHCP, the LA need to review and finalise it by 15 February in your child’s preschool year, stating a placement or type of placement for the next stage of education, in this case, from early years to primary. This means that your annual review meeting needs to take place in the Autumn term to meet this deadline.

If your child has an EHCP and is going through a phase transfer (move between phases of education e.g. Early Years to Primary), you do not have to apply through the normal admissions route. School placement should be addressed at your child's EHCP transition review which should be completed by 15 February in the calendar year of the child’s transfer. 

If your child is going through the Needs Assessment process but an EHCP has not yet been agreed, you will still need to follow the school admissions process. 

However, local guidance within Herefordshire and Worcestershire is that you can apply through the admissions process if you choose, in order that your school preference is known to both the Admissions and SEN teams simultaneously.

You will receive a draft EHCP. You need to check your draft against your son’s professional reports named in section K, to make sure that you are happy with everything that has been included and that it represents your son’s needs. We offer some training called How to check a draft EHCP that can help with this. 

You then have 15 days to respond with your comments, which can include suggested changes, and your placement preference. If you need support, you can contact our helpline:

• Contact SENDIASS 

The LA will send out consultations to your preferred setting and any others that they feel may be appropriate. Settings should respond within 15 days. 

Your EHCP Coordinator or SEN Officer will present your case at panel. Panel is made up of a number of professionals from across education, health and social care. The panel will review the evidence and make a decision. Your EHCP Coordinator or SEN Officer will share the decision with you. 

You need to research settings so that you can inform the Local Authority (LA) of your preference. Our Choosing a school for a child with SEND webpage could help with this. 

If you have a preference, make a request to your SEN Officer or EHCP Coordinator to send out a consultation. If consultations have been sent and no setting has agreed that they can meet need, you need to have a conversation with your SEN Officer or EHCP Coordinator about what other options are available. They may have suggestions about provision they can put in place in the interim, while a specialist placement is being sought. This could include, attending a mainstream setting in the interim, a package of support or staying at their early years setting (if setting agrees). As a family you need to decide whether you want to accept any of the options suggested by the LA. 

You can also consider appealing for a particular placement as long as it meets the criteria for appeal. For instance, if a wholly independent setting has formally agreed that they can offer your child a place, but the LA do not agree to name, you can appeal. If you are going to appeal, you need to make it clear to tribunal that it is a phase transfer because they will endeavour to hear the case before the school start date, although there are no guarantees. 

You can also follow the LA complaints procedure which can then be escalated to the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman if it meets the criteria.  For further information see our SENDIASS guidance for resolving disagreements or making a complaint webpage

You can continue to ask the local authority to consult with settings including those out of county. You could also request a direct payment or an EOTAS or EOTIS package during the review process of the EHCP. 

If you need further support, you can contact our helpline:

• Contact SENDIASS 

If you have a final EHCP you will receive your appeal rights allowing you to appeal to the SEND Tribunal for a specialist placement. The SEND Tribunal is a legal body. It hears appeals against decisions made by Local Authorities (LA) about Education, Health and Care (EHC) needs assessments and EHC plans. You need to decide if you want to appeal the LA’s decision. 

When you receive your final plan, you will also receive a letter detailing your appeal rights. You have 2 months from the date of that letter or 1 month from mediation to lodge your appeal, whichever is the later. 

Mediation is a less formal way of trying to settle the dispute between you and the Local Authority (LA). It involves a meeting between you, the LA and an independent mediator, who will try to help you reach agreement on the points of dispute. It is free of charge, and you will find details of the local mediation services on your decision letter from the LA. You need to decide what you want to dispute. Is it just the placement or some of the content of the plan as well? You can appeal the needs, provision and placement sections of the plan. If it is just the placement, you do not need to consider mediation first, although you can still take this route if you wish. For appealing the content of the plan, you must consider mediation. This means that you must contact a mediator (details will be in your letter) who will explain the process fully to help you decide whether you want to have a mediation meeting. If you opt not to have mediation, they will issue you a certificate within 3 working days. This allows you to go straight to the tribunal process. If you attend mediation, the mediator will also issue a certificate allowing you to take your appeal to tribunal. 

We have some further information on our SENDIASS guidance for mediation and tribunal webpage.