For SENCOs in England. Pilot opens November 2026. One school per council area.
Your next EHC needs assessment request, written for you.
Send us your notes with names taken out. Within two school days the request is back in your council's own form, using only what your notes say, with the costed provision map worked out and every gap flagged. See a full example first, no data needed.
- Back in two school days
- Your council's own form
- Costed provision map included
- No pupil names, ever
Pilot price £250 for your first 2 requests. No subscription.
The request is the hardest form a SENCO writes.
- 10 to 25pages of free textThe child's needs, the impact in class, at least two cycles of assess, plan, do, review, and why a plan is needed now. Every council asks on its own form, and some send incomplete forms back.
- £6,000to prove, line by lineMany councils want a costed provision map showing what the £6,000 schools are currently expected to fund has paid for. It is the fiddliest part of the form, and the easiest to get wrong.
- 1 in 4requests refused to assessCouncils in England received 162,702 requests in 2025 and refused to assess 43,289 of them. The six-week decision clock only starts once a complete request is in.
On top of it, a typical mainstream school has about 14 pupils with a plan, each with an annual review and a written report due within two weeks of the meeting.
What we write for you
- 1Requests for an EHC needs assessmentSend us your notes with names taken out. Within two school days the request is back in your council's own form, using only what your notes say, with the costed provision map worked out and every gap flagged before the panel sees it.
- 2Annual review reports, for pilot schoolsPilot schools can also send us their annual review notes and get the school's report back in the same way, at no extra cost while the pilot runs.
What we never do
- Invent a need, diagnosis, frequency, recommendation or provision that is not in your notes.
- Contact the parent, the child or the council.
- Ask for a pupil's name, date of birth or address.
- Decide what a child needs. That is for you, the family and the council.
How it works
- 1See the sampleLook at a full example request for a made-up pupil before you share anything.
- 2Send your notesUpload your notes and evidence securely, with names taken out, once our data processing agreement is signed.
- 3Check and signWithin two school days the draft is back. You change anything you want and send it yourself.
We use AI to write the first draft, and a second, automatic check removes any sentence your notes do not support. DfE's training on AI in education says statutory documents should not be written or finalised without significant professional review. Your read before signing is that review.
Pupil data: exactly what happens to it
The first question is rarely how good the draft is. It is whether it is safe to send. So here is precisely what we do, in line with DfE's guidance on generative AI and data protection in schools.
No names, dates of birth or addresses
You remove them before sending. We check every upload, and if we find a name we delete the upload and ask you to send it again.
A data processing agreement comes first
Before you send anything, we sign a UK GDPR Article 28 data processing agreement with your school. Your school stays the data controller and we act only on your instructions.
Ready for your data protection officer
Before your first report we send your DPO the agreement, our list of sub-processors and a summary data protection impact assessment, so they can approve it the way DfE guidance asks.
Stored in the EU, drafted by one AI provider
Notes and drafts are stored encrypted in the EU (Frankfurt). Drafting uses one AI provider only, Anthropic's Claude, through its commercial API under standard contractual clauses. Under those terms your notes are not used to train AI models.
Encrypted, then deleted
Everything is encrypted in transit and at rest. Your notes and the draft are deleted 30 days after we send you the draft, or sooner if you ask.
No one else, ever
We never contact the parent, the child or the council, and nothing a school sends us is used for marketing or shared beyond the processors named in our privacy notice.
Pilot price: £250 for your first 2 requests
After that, £295 a request, invoiced to the school. Annual review reports are included at no extra cost while the pilot runs.
No subscription and nothing renews. Not happy with a draft? We rewrite it, and if it still is not right you do not pay for it. We are not registered for VAT, so no VAT is added.
For comparison
One specialist SEN law firm publishes £3,500 plus VAT to prepare a single request for an EHC needs assessment. Ours is £295, or less in the pilot, written from your own notes, back in two school days.
Join the pilot
We are taking one school per council area, and no more than 30 in all, so every draft comes back within two school days. The first school from each area gets that area's place at the pilot price. Everyone else stays on the waitlist and hears first when more places open.
Rather talk it through first, or bring your DPO's questions? Book 15 minutes with us.
Questions
Can a school use drafting help like this?
Yes. DfE's training on AI in education says AI can help draft first versions of support plans, and that statutory documents such as EHCP contributions should not be written or finalised without significant professional review. Every report and request stays the school's: your SENCO reviews it, changes it and sends it.
Where do the costs in the provision map come from?
From the hours, group sizes and costs in your notes, or your council's published rate. The sums are calculated, not written by AI, and where a figure is missing we ask instead of guessing.
How quickly do we get the draft?
Within two school days of receiving your notes. That is why the pilot takes one school per council area, and no more than 30 in all.
Will the council agree to assess, or change the plan?
Nobody can promise that. The council decides every request and every amendment. What we do is make sure your paperwork sets out what your evidence shows, in the format your council asks for, with the gaps pointed out before you send it.
Our DPO will want to check this first. What do they get?
The data processing agreement, our sub-processor list and a summary data protection impact assessment, before your first report. No pupil information is shared until they are happy.
What does the pilot cost?
£250 for your first 2 requests, then £295 a request, invoiced to the school. Annual review reports are included while the pilot runs. No subscription and nothing renews.
Which councils do you cover?
Any council in England. Tell us your council when you join and we use its current formats. Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland use different systems and are not part of the pilot.
This page is for schools. If you are a parent, IPSEA and SOS!SEN give free, independent advice, and our free guide explains how to ask for an assessment yourself. Questions from schools: hi@finallyseen.org.uk.
Sources for the figures on this page
- Department for Education, Special educational needs in England, January 2026 (538,547 pupils with an EHC plan, up 11.6%; 57.8% in state-funded primary and secondary schools; 1,319,780 with SEN support)
- About 14 pupils with a plan in a typical mainstream school: our division of 57.8% of 538,547 by the 21,433 open state-funded mainstream schools in Get Information About Schools, 10 October 2026
- The Special Educational Needs and Disability Regulations 2014, regulation 20 (review meeting, advice circulated two weeks before, written report within two weeks after), regulations 5(1) and 13(2) (six and 20 weeks)
- SEND Code of Practice 2015, paragraphs 6.65 (meet parents at least three times each year), 6.72 (records kept up to date) and 9.166 (plans reviewed at least every 12 months)
- Department for Education, Education, health and care plans, reporting year 2026 (162,702 requests and 43,289 refusals to assess in 2025)
- Walsall Council, SENCo guide to the EHC needs assessment pathway, November 2025
- West Sussex County Council, provision map guidance for EHC needs assessment requests
- Department for Education, The notional SEN budget for mainstream schools: operational guidance 2026 to 2027
- SEN Legal, Our costs: Request for EHC Needs Assessment, £3,500 plus VAT (read 10 October 2026)
- Department for Education, The safe and effective use of AI in education, Module 4: use cases of generative AI in education (transcript)
- Department for Education, Data protection in schools: generative AI