EHCPs by Council: Refusal Rates and Waiting Times in England
Pick your council to see how many EHC needs assessment requests it refused in 2025, how many plans it issued inside the legal 20 weeks, how long a plan actually took, and how many children are home educated in the area. All of it comes from the Department for Education’s own published figures.
Across England in 2025, councils refused 29% of the EHC needs assessment requests they decided, and only 45.5% of plans were issued inside the legal 20 weeks. Those averages hide an enormous amount. Refusal rates run from 6.4% to 63.5% depending on the council, so it is worth knowing what yours actually does.
See the full comparison of all 153 councils in one table, or pick yours below.
Councils A to Z
B Barking and Dagenham · Barnet · Barnsley · Bath and North East Somerset · Bedford · Bexley · Birmingham · Blackburn with Darwen · Blackpool · Bolton · Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole · Bracknell Forest · Bradford · Brent · Brighton and Hove · Bristol, City of · Bromley · Buckinghamshire · Bury
C Calderdale · Cambridgeshire · Camden · Central Bedfordshire · Cheshire East · Cheshire West and Chester · City of London · Cornwall · County Durham · Coventry · Croydon · Cumberland
D Darlington · Derby · Derbyshire · Devon · Doncaster · Dorset · Dudley
E Ealing · East Riding of Yorkshire · East Sussex · Enfield · Essex
G Gateshead · Gloucestershire · Greenwich
H Hackney · Halton · Hammersmith and Fulham · Hampshire · Haringey · Harrow · Hartlepool · Havering · Herefordshire, County of · Hertfordshire · Hillingdon · Hounslow
I Isle of Wight · Isles of Scilly · Islington
K Kensington and Chelsea · Kent · Kingston upon Hull, City of · Kingston upon Thames · Kirklees · Knowsley
L Lambeth · Lancashire · Leeds · Leicester · Leicestershire · Lewisham · Lincolnshire · Liverpool · Luton
M Manchester · Medway · Merton · Middlesbrough · Milton Keynes
N Newcastle upon Tyne · Newham · Norfolk · North East Lincolnshire · North Lincolnshire · North Northamptonshire · North Somerset · North Tyneside · North Yorkshire · Northumberland · Nottingham · Nottinghamshire
O Oldham · Oxfordshire
P Peterborough · Plymouth · Portsmouth
R Reading · Redbridge · Redcar and Cleveland · Richmond upon Thames · Rochdale · Rotherham · Rutland
S Salford · Sandwell · Sefton · Sheffield · Shropshire · Slough · Solihull · Somerset · South Gloucestershire · South Tyneside · Southampton · Southend-on-Sea · Southwark · St. Helens · Staffordshire · Stockport · Stockton-on-Tees · Stoke-on-Trent · Suffolk · Sunderland · Surrey · Sutton · Swindon
T Tameside · Telford and Wrekin · Thurrock · Torbay · Tower Hamlets · Trafford
W Wakefield · Walsall · Waltham Forest · Wandsworth · Warrington · Warwickshire · West Berkshire · West Northamptonshire · West Sussex · Westminster · Westmorland and Furness · Wigan · Wiltshire · Windsor and Maidenhead · Wirral · Wokingham · Wolverhampton · Worcestershire
Y York
If your council has refused an assessment
You have two months from the decision letter to appeal to the SEND Tribunal, or one month from your mediation certificate if that falls later. Nationally, 93.6% of the assessments that were actually carried out ended in a plan, so a refusal to assess is well worth challenging.