ABSTRACT
The 1993 Education Act 1 requires the LEA to carry out an assessment of special needs for those children who are deemed to have special educational needs which are so serious that it is probably necessary for the LEA to arrange the SEN provision directly rather than relying on the school. This formal assessment is intended for a very small minority of children who may have severe and complex special needs. The Code of Practice states that:
The needs of the great majority of children who have special educational needs should be met effectively under the school-based stages, without the statutory involvement of the local education authority. But in a minority of cases, perhaps two per cent of children, the LEA will need to make a statutory assessment of special educational needs.
(Paragraph 3:1 Code of Practice, DfE, 1994a)