Clear EHCP support, at the stage your family needs.
Practical, evidence-led help with applications, plans, reviews, refusals, mediation and SEND Tribunal preparation.
Make sense of the documents, identify what may be missing and present your child’s needs and required provision clearly.
Remote consultations and document support for families across England.
Which stage do you need help with?
You may be considering an assessment, responding to a draft or challenging a decision. Choose the route that best matches your situation.
Considering or applying
Assessment requests, parent statements and organising evidence of needs and provision.
Explore application support →The authority has refused
Understand a refusal to assess or issue a plan and prepare the next appropriate response.
Explore refusal support →A draft or final plan needs reviewing
Missing needs, vague provision, outcomes and placement concerns.
Explore plan reviews →An annual review is approaching
Review current provision, prepare requested amendments and understand the next decision.
Explore annual review support →Mediation or an appeal
Issues in dispute, evidence, working documents and hearing preparation.
Explore mediation and appeals →Placement or access is a concern
Organise evidence for placement discussions or explore EOTAS where relevant.
Explore placement support →Have a decision letter or deadline? Include its date when you contact us. Check appeal and response deadlines promptly; an enquiry does not pause them.
Preparation, or continued practical support.
The exact scope, deliverables, evidence allowance and fee are confirmed in writing before work begins.
Preparation Support
Review of agreed information and preparation of the specified documents, amendments, recommendations or evidence summary.
For parents who want a complete agreed piece of work and feel comfortable managing the next stage themselves.
Supported Casework
Preparation plus continued help through the next agreed stage, which may include responses, amendment discussions, case-management documents or hearing preparation.
Meeting or hearing attendance is included only when expressly agreed.
Prepare a clear EHC needs assessment request.
We help connect your child’s difficulties, educational impact, provision already tried and reasons for requesting statutory assessment.
- Review relevant needs and current support
- Identify and organise school and professional evidence
- Prepare parental representations and pupil views
- Present the agreed application documents clearly
- Respond to further-information requests where included
A diagnosis is not a prerequisite. Assessment considers whether your child has or may have SEN and whether an EHCP may be necessary for provision.
Understand the reasons and prepare your response.
Refusal to assess
Review the decision, evidence and assessment test. Identify possible gaps, prepare appeal grounds and organise the agreed supporting documents.
Explore refusal-to-assess support →Refusal to issue a plan
Review the advice obtained during assessment, needs identified and provision required. Prepare the issues and evidence for the next agreed mediation or appeal stage.
Explore appeal preparation →Connect the needs, outcomes and provision.
A plan can describe difficulties while leaving essential support unclear. We review the agreed sections against the relevant evidence and prepare proposed changes.
Section A: views, interests and aspirations
Consider your child’s voice, parent views, strengths, interests, aspirations and the effect of needs on everyday life and education.
Section B: special educational needs
Check whether the evidence is reflected across communication, learning, emotional wellbeing, sensory and physical needs, attention, executive functioning, independence and preparation for adulthood where relevant.
Section E: outcomes
Examine whether outcomes are meaningful, understandable, reviewable and linked to identified needs and provision.
Section F: special educational provision
Review what support is specified, who delivers it, frequency, duration, individual or group arrangements, relevant expertise and oversight.
Identify where terms such as “access to”, “regular”, “as required” or “where appropriate” leave provision unclear. Proposed wording should be grounded in evidence and suitable for the child.
Section I: educational placement
Help organise the evidence and your reasons for a school or type of placement, connecting suitability to needs and provision. Placement and EOTAS arrangements need individual consideration.
Check whether the plan still fits.
We help review current needs, delivery of Section F, progress and changes you want considered.
- Identify missing or outdated needs
- Compare provision and outcomes with current evidence
- Prepare parent comments, questions and requested amendments
- Organise supporting records
- Review the authority’s decision and amended wording
Support can address decisions to maintain, amend or cease a plan, according to the agreed scope.
Explore annual review support
Keep the disputed issues and evidence clear.
Support is shaped around the decision, the matters being challenged and the stage your case has reached.
Mediation Support
Prepare a concise position, requested decisions or amendments, relevant evidence and questions. Review and record any agreements and identify unresolved issues.
Explore mediation support →SEND Tribunal Preparation
Help with appeal grounds, parent statements, evidence organisation, chronology, responses, case-review forms and hearing priorities, where agreed.
Explore tribunal support →Working Document Support
Track agreed wording, proposed amendments and remaining disputes. Connect changes in needs and provision to the evidence.
Explore working documents →Attendance is a separate agreement.
Document review and hearing preparation do not automatically include attending a hearing, witness support or formal representation. Any attendance must be expressly included in the service schedule, subject to availability.
Relevant evidence, clearly connected to the request.
A useful submission is not simply the largest collection of documents. Show what each piece of information establishes and how it supports the decision or wording being sought.
Information we can consider
- Psychology, therapy and specialist teacher advice
- Relevant ADHD, autism or other assessment reports
- School reports, support plans and APDR records
- Attendance, incident and exclusion information
- Relevant medical information and correspondence
- Parent evidence and the child or young person’s views
What we help clarify
- What the evidence shows
- Which needs and provision it relates to
- Where clarification or further advice may help
- What changes or decisions it supports
- How to present the agreed evidence coherently
Consider the setting alongside needs and provision.
EHCP Placement Support
Organise evidence and parent views for discussions about mainstream, specialist, resource-base or further education placements.
Complex placement disputes may also require specialist legal advice.
Explore placement support →EOTAS Support
Review the evidence where education in a school setting may be inappropriate and provision outside school is being explored through the EHCP framework.
EOTAS is not the same as elective home education.
Explore EOTAS support →Practical help shaped around your documents and concerns.
Parent-focused support
Work centred on your child, the documents available and the stage your family has reached.
Evidence-led preparation
Connect requests and proposed wording to professional, educational and parent evidence.
Clear communication
Complex procedures explained in straightforward language, with defined deliverables.
Connected plan reviews
Consider how needs, outcomes and provision relate, rather than treating sections in isolation.
Wider professional insight
Our wider services include Chartered Psychologist-led assessments, helping families understand educational implications of identified needs.
Support across England
Remote consultation and document-based advocacy for families at different EHCP stages.
A clear process and written scope.
Tell us your situation
Share the stage, main concerns and dates of any decision or upcoming deadline.
Identify the support needed
We establish the documents available and the work appropriate to your enquiry.
Agree scope and fee
Confirm included work, documents, timescales, price and limitations before paid work begins.
Review agreed evidence
Identify needs, gaps, disputed issues and recommended next steps.
Prepare the agreed work
Receive documents, amendments or recommendations with guidance on their use.
Plan what happens next
Clarify further stages and the deadlines relevant to your case.
EHCP advocacy: your questions answered.
What does an EHCP advocate do?
Help parents or young people understand the process, review evidence, prepare documents and present their position. The role depends on the agreed service; an advocate is not automatically a solicitor or regulated legal representative.
Can you guarantee an EHCP or an appeal outcome?
No. We help present the relevant needs, evidence and requested changes clearly. Decisions remain with the local authority or tribunal.
Does my child need a diagnosis?
No particular diagnosis is a prerequisite. The focus is SEN and the provision required. Assessment and issuing a plan involve separate decisions.
Understand eligibility →Can I request assessment directly?
Yes. A parent can request an EHC needs assessment from the local authority. Rights transfer to the young person after compulsory school age, subject to the applicable capacity arrangements.
What decisions and plan sections can be appealed?
Relevant appeals include refusals to assess or issue a plan, educational content in Sections B, F and I, certain refusal-to-amend decisions and decisions to cease a plan. Health and social-care recommendations may be sought alongside a qualifying educational appeal.
Read government appeal guidance →Can you improve Section F or review a final plan?
We can review the agreed evidence and wording, identify missing or vague provision and prepare proposed amendments. Contact us promptly after a final decision because appeal deadlines may already be running.
Do you attend tribunal hearings?
Attendance or witness support must be expressly agreed and is subject to availability. Tribunal preparation alone does not include hearing attendance or regulated legal representation.
What is the appeal deadline?
For the usual EHCP appeal route, the tribunal must receive the appeal within two months of the decision letter or one month of the mediation certificate, whichever is later. Check the relevant dates and current guidance promptly.
Check government deadline guidance →Do I have to take part in mediation?
For most appeals, contact a mediation adviser and obtain the appropriate certificate. Taking part in mediation is a choice. The requirement does not apply to an appeal solely about Section I placement.
Read the mediation requirements →Is this service UK-wide?
This page covers the EHCP framework in England. Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland have different education systems and legal frameworks.
Clear service boundaries
School of Diversity provides practical SEND advocacy, case preparation and agreed support. This is not representation by a solicitor or barrister or regulated legal representation.
Your agreement defines the service. Outcomes cannot be guaranteed. Keep track of deadlines and clarify responsibility for any filing or submission within the agreed scope.
You do not have to untangle the EHCP process alone.
Tell us the stage you have reached, your main concerns and any decision or deadline.
Have these details ready.
- The type of decision or plan received
- The date on the decision letter
- Any mediation certificate or hearing date
- The support you want help with
office@schoolofdiversity.com
0333 577 1179