South East
EHCP Support in Bracknell Forest: Deadlines, Performance & Local Help
Last verified 18 May 2026
20-week EHCP timeliness — 2024 data
Bracknell Forest issued 45.8% of new EHCPs within the statutory 20-week deadline in 2024. That is roughly in line with the national average (46.4%).
Based on 206 new EHC plans issued by Bracknell Forest in 2024.
In plain English: if you applied for an EHCP in Bracknell Forest this year, statistically around 46 in every 100 families received their plan on time. The remaining 54 in 100 waited longer than the law allows. A missed deadline does not weaken your rights — the council still has the same legal duty to issue the plan, and you have routes to challenge delay.
Source: DfE — Education, health and care plans, England (annual statistics). Data year: 2024.
Council & Local Offer
SEN team contact
Local SENDIASS — free, impartial advice in Bracknell Forest
SENDIASS (Special Educational Needs and Disabilities Information, Advice and Support Service) is a free, statutory and impartial service for parents, carers and young people.
Find your local SENDIASS service via Bracknell Forest's Local Offer.
How to request an EHCP assessment
Anyone — a parent, the young person (16+), or someone acting on their behalf (school, GP) — can ask Bracknell Forest for an Education, Health and Care needs assessment. The request is a short written letter or email to the SEN team explaining why your child may need provision beyond what is normally available in school.
The council has 6 weeks to decide whether to assess. If they agree, the full process to issue a final plan must complete within 20 weeks of your original request.
When deadlines are missed
If Bracknell Forest misses the 6-week assessment decision or the 20-week final plan deadline, you have clear options: chase in writing, escalate to the council's complaints process, complain to the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman, or apply for judicial review in serious cases. Exemptions are narrow and listed in Regulation 13(3) of the SEND Regulations 2014.
Tools & templates
- Deadline tracker — log the date you submitted your request and we'll show your statutory milestones.
- Letter templates — request an assessment, chase a missed deadline, challenge a refusal.
- How to challenge an EHCP refusal
- What Section F of an EHCP must legally contain
Information, not legal advice. Statistics on this page are taken from the DfE annual EHCP dataset for 2024. Always check the primary source for the most recent figures.
