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Advice and information for an assessment (regulation 6)

During an EHC needs assessment, the council must seek advice and information from several people. These are the parent or young person, the school or college, a health professional, an educational psychologist and social care. It must also ask anyone the parent or young person reasonably asks for. From Year 9 it must seek advice on preparing for adulthood. The Code of Practice says all advice the council asks for must be given within 6 weeks, apart from a few exceptions. The advice is attached to the plan as Section K.

In the Regulations, the 6-week duty applies only to bodies the council asks to help under section 31, such as health services or another council. The child or young person may seem to have a hearing or vision impairment. If the educational adviser is not qualified to teach children with that impairment, they must consult someone who is. If a parent serves in the armed forces, advice must also be sought from the Secretary of State for Defence. Existing advice can be used instead of new advice only if the adviser, the council and the parent or young person all agree it is enough. The council must give advisers copies of any views and evidence the parent or young person sent. It must take the advice into account, but it does not have to adopt every recommendation.

Type of rule
Law (Act or Regulations)
Rule id
advice_and_information
Rules version
england-2026.10
Law as at
30 September 2026

Sources

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In an assistant, the ehcp_check_plan tool helps with this: Check an EHC plan.

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