Manchester City Council has introduced a new online form for parents and carers who want to request an Education, Health and Care (EHC) needs assessment.

The change was announced in Manchester Local Offer’s October 2026 SEND update. The council says the new form is intended to make the process simpler and easier to access. Parents can now complete the request online, upload supporting information and review their answers before submitting.

For many families, having one clear online route may be helpful. But it is important to understand what this change does — and what it does not change.

The biggest point for parents is this:

The form is new. The legal test for whether an EHC needs assessment should be carried out has not changed.

What Is an EHC Needs Assessment?

An EHC needs assessment is the statutory assessment carried out by a local authority when it is considering whether a child or young person may need an Education, Health and Care Plan, commonly known as an EHCP.

Manchester City Council describes an EHC needs assessment as the first step towards getting an EHCP where a child may need more support than is currently available through ordinary SEN Support.

An assessment should look at the child or young person’s needs across education and, where relevant, health and social care.

It is important to remember that requesting an assessment does not mean you are asking the council to immediately issue an EHCP.

You are asking the council to assess the child fully so that it can determine what their needs are, what provision is required and whether an EHCP is necessary.

What Has Changed in Manchester?

Manchester previously accepted EHC needs assessment requests through its existing processes.

The new development is an online parent and carer request form.

According to Manchester Local Offer, the form allows families to:

  • complete the request online
  • upload supporting information
  • review their answers before submission

The council has also placed information alongside the form explaining who can request an assessment, what information may be useful and what happens after a request is made.

That could make the process more accessible for families who previously felt unsure about where to begin.

Who Can Request an EHC Needs Assessment?

Parents and carers can make a request themselves.

You do not have to wait for the school to apply.

A young person over compulsory school age can also make a request themselves, and certain professionals and education settings can request an assessment.

For parents, this is an important right.

Sometimes families are told:

“The school isn’t ready to apply yet.”

or:

“We need to try more SEN Support first.”

The school may have useful evidence, and working collaboratively with the SENCO can be helpful, but a parent does not need the school’s permission before making their own request.

What Is the Legal Test?

This is one of the most important parts of the process.

Under section 36(8) of the Children and Families Act 2014, a local authority must secure an EHC needs assessment where, after considering the available evidence, it believes:

the child or young person has or may have special educational needs; and

it may be necessary for special educational provision to be made through an EHC plan.

Notice the wording:

“may have”

and

“may be necessary.”

At this stage, a parent does not have to prove beyond doubt that their child definitely requires an EHCP.

That is partly what the assessment is there to determine.

The Online Form Does Not Create a Higher Threshold

Parents should not feel that because Manchester now provides a detailed form, they must produce an enormous evidence bundle before they are allowed to request an assessment.

The form is a way of providing information to the council.

It does not replace the law.

You do not legally need:

  • a formal autism or ADHD diagnosis
  • an Educational Psychologist report
  • an Occupational Therapy assessment
  • a Speech and Language Therapy report
  • a fixed number of assess-plan-do-review cycles
  • a particular amount of SEN funding
  • a certain number of years of academic delay

before you can ask the local authority to assess.

Having evidence can certainly strengthen a request, but the question remains whether the child has or may have SEN and whether it may be necessary for provision to be made through an EHCP.

What Should Parents Put in the Form?

One of the easiest mistakes to make is simply listing diagnoses.

For example:

“My child has autism and ADHD.”

That is useful information, but it does not tell the local authority enough about why an EHC needs assessment may be necessary.

Instead, try to explain the impact of your child’s needs.

Think about the child across the whole school day and at home.

Describe Your Child’s Needs

Include difficulties with areas such as:

  • communication
  • understanding language
  • expressing needs
  • social interaction
  • attention and concentration
  • emotional regulation
  • sensory processing
  • transitions
  • learning
  • literacy or numeracy
  • executive functioning
  • independence
  • toileting
  • eating
  • sleep
  • anxiety
  • attendance
  • behaviour that may communicate distress
  • safety and danger awareness

You do not need to use professional language.

Clear examples are often more helpful.

Instead of:

“He struggles with transitions.”

you could explain:

“When there is an unexpected change to his timetable, he can become extremely distressed, refuse to enter the classroom and require an adult to support him for up to 30 minutes before he can regulate.”

That tells the reader much more.

Explain What Is Happening in School

Describe how your child is accessing education.

For example:

  • Are they working significantly below expected levels?
  • Do they require frequent adult support?
  • Are they leaving the classroom?
  • Are they unable to access whole-class teaching?
  • Are they frequently dysregulated?
  • Are they receiving repeated sanctions?
  • Are they being excluded?
  • Are they attending on a reduced timetable?
  • Are they struggling to attend at all?
  • Do they require constant prompting?
  • Do they need significant support during unstructured times?

Remember that educational need is wider than academic attainment.

A child may be academically capable but still have significant SEN affecting their ability to access education.

Include What Happens at Home

This can be particularly important for neurodivergent children who mask.

Parents may see:

  • meltdowns after school
  • shutdowns
  • exhaustion
  • sleep disruption
  • anxiety the night before school
  • refusal to attend
  • self-injurious behaviour
  • increased sensory seeking or avoidance
  • distress around homework
  • difficulties recovering after the school day

If school says your child appears to be coping but you see significant distress afterwards, include that information.

The child’s experience should be considered as a whole.

Explain What Support Has Already Been Tried

The council will want to understand what the school or college has already done.

Include any SEN Support such as:

  • one-to-one support
  • small-group interventions
  • visual timetables
  • movement breaks
  • sensory strategies
  • reduced demands
  • differentiated work
  • safe spaces
  • pastoral support
  • emotional regulation interventions
  • Speech and Language strategies
  • specialist teacher advice
  • Educational Psychology involvement

Then explain the impact.

Was it successful?

Partly successful?

Not enough?

Was the support inconsistent?

Has your child’s level of need continued to increase?

This is often where the case for assessment becomes clearer.

Explain Why SEN Support Is Not Enough

This is perhaps one of the most important parts of a parent request.

Try to answer:

Why might my child’s needs require support beyond what is currently being provided through SEN Support?

For example:

Despite regular SEN Support and several interventions, my child continues to experience significant difficulty accessing the curriculum, regulating within the classroom and attending consistently. The level and type of provision required is not yet fully understood, and I believe a statutory assessment is necessary to identify their needs and the provision required.

You are not expected to know exactly what an EHCP should contain at this stage.

That is why you are asking for an assessment.

What Evidence Should You Upload?

Manchester’s new form allows supporting documents to be uploaded.

Useful evidence might include:

  • SEN Support plans
  • Individual Education Plans
  • provision maps
  • school reports
  • attendance records
  • exclusion letters
  • professional reports
  • Speech and Language reports
  • Occupational Therapy reports
  • Educational Psychology advice
  • CAMHS or paediatric letters
  • autism or ADHD reports
  • correspondence with school
  • meeting notes
  • behaviour or incident records
  • examples of work
  • letters showing reduced hours
  • parent diaries or records of difficulties

You do not need to upload every email you have ever received.

Choose documents that help demonstrate:

the child’s needs, the support that has been tried and why further assessment may be necessary.

What If You Do Not Have Professional Reports?

You can still make a request.

Parents should not feel they have to wait months for an Educational Psychologist, autism assessment or other professional involvement before requesting an EHC needs assessment.

If further professional advice is needed, one of the purposes of the statutory assessment process is to obtain appropriate advice.

Your own evidence also matters.

Explain what you observe, what support your child requires and what impact their difficulties have.

Include Your Child’s Voice

Where possible, include what your child thinks and feels.

Depending on their age and communication style, this could include:

  • what they find difficult
  • what makes school easier
  • what makes them anxious
  • what support they like
  • what they dislike
  • what they want adults to understand
  • their hopes for school and the future

For a child who cannot communicate these views directly, parents and people who know them well can explain their preferences, communication and responses.

An EHC needs assessment is supposed to be person-centred.

The child should not disappear behind paperwork.

What Happens After You Submit the Form?

Once Manchester City Council receives a valid request, the statutory timescale begins.

Under the current law, the local authority has six weeks from receiving the request to decide whether it will carry out an EHC needs assessment.

If it agrees to assess, it will gather advice and evidence from relevant professionals.

If, following the assessment, the local authority decides to issue an EHCP, the overall statutory process should usually be completed within 20 weeks from the original request, subject to limited legal exceptions.

The online form does not change these statutory timescales.

What If Manchester Refuses to Assess?

If the council decides not to carry out an EHC needs assessment, it must notify the parent or young person of its decision.

Parents and young people have a right of appeal to the SEND Tribunal.

Before an appeal can normally be registered, the parent or young person must contact a mediation adviser and obtain a mediation certificate, although they do not necessarily have to attend mediation.

A refusal to assess is therefore not necessarily the end of the process.

Keep Proof of Submission

With any online statutory request, I would strongly advise parents to keep their own records.

After completing Manchester’s form:

  • save or screenshot the confirmation
  • keep a copy of the information you submitted where possible
  • keep copies of every document uploaded
  • note the submission date
  • save any reference number
  • keep subsequent emails from the SEND team

The submission date matters because it is relevant to the statutory six-week decision period.

Should You Wait for School to Gather More Evidence?

Sometimes it makes sense to gather additional evidence first.

But families should also be careful about repeatedly being told:

“Let’s just give it another term.”

A child should not have to reach crisis point before an EHC needs assessment is considered.

If SEN Support has been tried and concerns remain significant, or if the child’s needs are already sufficiently complex that an EHCP may be necessary, a parent can make their own request.

Each case must be considered individually.

A Diagnosis Is Still Not Required

The introduction of Manchester’s online form does not mean children need a formal diagnosis to qualify for an assessment.

A child can have special educational needs without a confirmed medical diagnosis.

The focus should be on:

What difficulties does this child experience?

How do those difficulties affect access to education?

What support has been tried?

What additional provision might be required?

The NLH View

Manchester introducing a clearer online route for parents to request an EHC needs assessment could be a positive step.

Families often find the EHCP process overwhelming before they have even begun.

Being able to complete one form, upload evidence and review it before submission may make the process more straightforward. Manchester City Council says that simplifying access is the aim of the new system.

But accessibility is about more than putting a form online.

Parents need clear information about what the legal test actually is.

They need to know that they can make the request themselves.

They need to know that a diagnosis is not required.

And they should not be made to feel that they need to produce a perfect application or a complete collection of professional reports before their child’s needs can even be assessed.

A parent is not applying for a favour.

They are exercising a statutory right to ask the local authority to consider whether their child requires an EHC needs assessment.

The new form may change how Manchester families make that request.

It does not change the legal rights sitting behind it.

Neurodiversity Learning Hub
Educate. Advocate. Navigate.

Supporting families with practical SEND information, guidance and advocacy.

This article relates specifically to Manchester City Council’s new online parent/carer EHC needs assessment request process announced in October 2026. It provides general information and should not be treated as individual legal advice.

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