EHCP refusal letter template: challenging a refusal to assess

When to use this letter, and when not to

Use this letter when the council has written to you, within or after the six week window in regulation 5(1) of the SEND Regulations 2014, to say it will not carry out an EHC needs assessment for your child. It asks the council to look again, in writing, with the evidence in front of it.

Use it if:

• You have a dated refusal letter from the council.
• You have evidence the council either did not see or did not deal with in its reasons.
• You are inside, or only just outside, the two month window for contacting a mediation adviser.

Do not use it if:

• Your two month window is nearly up. Reconsideration is not a statutory step and it pauses nothing. If you have days rather than weeks left, contact a mediation adviser first and send this letter afterwards.
• The council has missed the six week deadline entirely and sent nothing.That is delay, not a refusal, and it goes down a different route. Use themissed deadline complaint letter instead.
• The council has assessed and then refused to issue a plan. That is a different decision under regulation 10(1) with its own appeal right in section 51(2)(b). The arguments are not the same.
• You have already appealed. Once the appeal is lodged, put your evidence into the appeal, not into a parallel correspondence thread.

The test the council has to apply

Section 36(8) of the Children and Families Act 2014 says the authority must secure an EHC needs assessment where the child has or may have special educational needs, and it may be necessary for special educational provision to be made in accordance with an EHC plan.

Both limbs turn on the word "may". The council is not being asked whether your child definitely needs a plan. It is being asked whether your child may have SEN, and whether provision through a plan may be necessary. That is a deliberately low threshold, and it is the single most useful sentence in this letter. Refusals very often apply a higher test than the law sets: that needs are "already being met", that the school has "not tried everything", or that the child is "making progress". None of those is the statutory test.

The refusal notice also has to do certain things. Under regulation 5(3) it must tell you about your right to appeal, the time limits, the mediation information required by regulation 32, and the availability of disagreement resolution and information and advice services. If your letter is missing any of that, say so.

The clocks that are already running

From the day the council sent its decision notice, not the day you read it, three clocks are running. This is why the letter below protects your appeal route at the same time as asking for reconsideration.

If you are not sure which dates apply to your case, thefree deadline checker works them out from the dates on your letters and shows the regulation behind each one.

The letter

Copy everything in the box. Anything in [SQUARE BRACKETS] is for you to fill in or delete.

[YOUR NAME]
[YOUR ADDRESS]
[POSTCODE]
[YOUR EMAIL]   [YOUR PHONE]

SEN Team
[COUNCIL NAME]
[COUNCIL ADDRESS]

[TODAY'S DATE]

By email to: [SEN TEAM EMAIL ADDRESS]

Dear [NAMED CASE OFFICER, or "SEN Team"]

REQUEST FOR RECONSIDERATION: REFUSAL TO CARRY OUT AN EHC NEEDS ASSESSMENT
Child: [CHILD'S FULL NAME], date of birth [DD/MM/YYYY]
Your reference: [REFERENCE NUMBER]

I am writing about your letter dated [DATE OF THE REFUSAL LETTER], in which you
decided not to carry out an EHC needs assessment for [CHILD'S FIRST NAME]. I am
asking you to reconsider that decision.

THE TEST YOU HAVE TO APPLY

Section 36(8) of the Children and Families Act 2014 requires the authority to
secure an EHC needs assessment where the child has or may have special
educational needs, and it may be necessary for special educational provision to
be made in accordance with an EHC plan.

Both limbs turn on the word "may". The question is not whether [CHILD'S FIRST
NAME] definitely needs a plan. It is whether [HE/SHE] may have special
educational needs, and whether provision through a plan may be necessary. That
is a low threshold, and on the evidence set out below it is met.

WHY THE THRESHOLD IS MET IN THIS CASE

1. [CHILD'S FIRST NAME] has been identified as having [DESCRIBE THE NEEDS, for
   example difficulties with expressive and receptive language, social
   communication and emotional regulation]. This is recorded in [NAME THE
   DOCUMENT, for example the speech and language therapy report] dated
   [DD/MM/YYYY], at [PAGE OR PARAGRAPH].

2. The school has been providing SEN support since [DATE], consisting of
   [DESCRIBE WHAT THE SCHOOL IS ALREADY DOING]. Despite that support,
   [CHILD'S FIRST NAME] is still [DESCRIBE THE GAP, for example working
   [X] years below age related expectations, attending only [X]% of sessions,
   unable to access the curriculum without adult support].

3. [ADD A FURTHER POINT, for example: attendance has fallen from X% to Y%;
   there have been [NUMBER] suspensions since [DATE]; [PROFESSIONAL NAME]
   recommended an EHC needs assessment in [HIS/HER] report of [DATE];
   [CHILD'S FIRST NAME] has deteriorated since the last review on [DATE].]

WHY YOUR STATED REASON DOES NOT ANSWER THE TEST

Your letter gives the following reason for refusing:

   "[QUOTE THE COUNCIL'S REASON WORD FOR WORD]"

I do not accept that this answers the statutory test, because [EXPLAIN, choosing
what fits: it applies a test of whether needs are currently being met, rather
than the section 36(8) test of whether provision through a plan may be
necessary; it relies on progress that the enclosed evidence does not support; it
treats the support the school is already funding as a reason not to assess, when
the level of that support is itself evidence that an assessment may be
necessary; it does not engage with the enclosed report of [DATE] at all].

EVIDENCE ENCLOSED

I enclose the following, which I ask you to put in front of the decision maker
and to address individually in your reply:

   1. [Educational psychology report], dated [DATE]
   2. [Speech and language therapy report], dated [DATE]
   3. [Paediatric or CAMHS letter], dated [DATE]
   4. [School SEN support plan, provision map or IEP], dated [DATE]
   5. [Attendance record for the period [DATE] to [DATE]]
   6. [Occupational therapy report], dated [DATE]
   7. My own written account of [CHILD'S FIRST NAME]'s difficulties at home,
      enclosed with this letter

[DELETE ANYTHING YOU ARE NOT ENCLOSING.]

WHAT I AM ASKING FOR

1. That you reconsider the refusal and agree to carry out an EHC needs
   assessment under section 36 of the Children and Families Act 2014.

2. That you reply in writing within 15 working days, and that your reply states
   which of the enclosed documents were considered and what conclusion was
   reached on each.

3. If you maintain the refusal, that you confirm the exact date on which your
   decision notice was sent, since my time to appeal runs from that date.

I am aware that a request for reconsideration is not a step in the statutory
process and does not pause any time limit. I am therefore protecting my position
at the same time.

MY APPEAL RIGHTS

I understand that a refusal to carry out an EHC needs assessment is appealable to
the First-tier Tribunal (SEND) under section 51(2)(a) of the Children and
Families Act 2014.

I understand that I must contact a mediation adviser within two months of your
decision notice being sent (regulation 33 of the SEND Regulations 2014), and
that I may appeal within two months of that notice being sent, or within one
month of the date of a mediation certificate if that date is later (rule
20(1)(c) of the Tribunal Procedure (First-tier Tribunal) (Health, Education and
Social Care Chamber) Rules 2008).

I have therefore [contacted the mediation adviser on [DATE] / will contact the
mediation adviser this week], so that my appeal route stays open while you
reconsider.

Please confirm receipt of this letter.

Yours sincerely

[YOUR NAME]
Parent of [CHILD'S FULL NAME]

Enclosures: [LIST THEM AGAIN HERE]

How to adapt it

1. Address it to a person where you can. If your refusal letter is signed by a named case officer, use their name and copy the SEN team inbox. A letter with a name on it is harder to leave in a queue.
2. Quote the council back to itself, word for word. Copy its stated reason exactly into the block provided. This removes any later argument about what was said, and it usually exposes the wrong test being applied.
3. Make the numbered points factual, not emotional. Each one should tie a difficulty to a document and a date. "He struggles in class" carries no weight. "The educational psychology report of 4 March 2026, at page 7, records working memory at the 2nd centile" does.
4. Pick the objections that actually fit. The "why your stated reason does not answer the test" paragraph offers four options. Choose the ones that match your refusal letter and delete the rest. Four half-relevant arguments are weaker than one that lands.
5. Prune the enclosures list. Delete what you do not have. Add anything you do, with its date. Number them and number them the same way in the covering email.
6. Do the mediation step this week. Do not leave the last paragraph as an intention. Contact the adviser, then edit the letter to say you have done so on a specific date.
7. Send by email, keep the sent copy. Ask for confirmation of receipt. The date you sent it and the date the council received it both matter later.

What to enclose

The council can only reconsider on what is in front of it. Anything a professional has written is worth more than anything you assert, so lead with reports. In rough order of weight:

• Professional reports: educational psychology, speech and language therapy, occupational therapy, paediatrics, CAMHS. Private reports count. Note the page or paragraph you are relying on rather than sending 40 pages and hoping.
• The school's own paperwork: SEN support plans, provision maps, the record of what has been tried and reviewed, and any letter from the SENCO saying the school cannot meet needs from its own resources. This is often the strongest document in the bundle.
• Hard data: attendance percentages, suspension records, reading and maths ages against chronological age, progress data across two or more points in time.
• Your own account: a dated, factual page on what daily life looks like, including anything the school does not see. Keep it specific and keep it short.

What happens next

There is no statutory deadline for answering a reconsideration request, which is why the letter asks for 15 working days. In practice one of three things happens.

1. The council agrees to assess. This is more common than parents expect, especially where the refusal was made without a key report. The 20 week clock for the final plan still runs from your original request, not from the council changing its mind, under regulation 13(2). Note that date and hold the council to it. The20 week timeline guide sets out what should happen when.
2. The council maintains the refusal. Then you appeal. You will already have contacted a mediation adviser, so you either have a certificate or you are waiting three working days for one. The appeal goes to the First-tier Tribunal (SEND) under section 51(2)(a), within two months of the original decision notice being sent, or one month from the certificate if that is later. Refusal to assess appeals succeed at a high rate, and the reconsideration correspondence goes in as evidence of what the council knew.
3. The council says nothing. Silence is not an answer, but it also does not extend your appeal window. Do not wait. Lodge the appeal on the original decision, and raise the failure to respond separately as a complaint, using the missed deadline complaint letter linked above.

Whichever way it goes, get free advice before the appeal deadline. IPSEA runs a tribunal helpline and SENDIASS is local to your council. Ourfull guide to a refused assessmentwalks through the whole route, and the deadline checker keeps the dates straight while you do it.