# The Education (Special Educational Needs) Regulations 1994, Regulation 11: Time limits


(1) Where under section 167(1) the authority serve a notice on the child’s parent informing him that they propose to make an assessment of the child’s educational needs under section 167 they shall within 6 weeks of the dateof service of the notice give notice to the child’s parent—
(a) under section 167(4) of their decision to make an assessment, and of their reasons for making that decision, or
(b) under section 167(6) of their decision not to assess the educational needs of the child.
(2) Where under section 174(2) the authority serve a notice on the child’s parent informing him that they propose E$to make an assessment of the child’s educational needs under section 167 they shall within 6 weeks of the date of service of the notice give notice to the child’s parent and to the governing body of the grant-maintained school which asked theauthority to make an assessment—
(a) under section 174(5) of their decision to make an assessment and their reasons for making that decision, or
(b) under section 174(6) of their decision not to assess the educational needs of the child.
(3) Where under sections 172(2) or 173(1) a parent asks the authority to arrange for an assessment to be madeunder section 167 they shall within 6 weeks of the date of receipt of the request give notice to the child’s parent—
(a) under section 167(4) of their decision to make an assessment, or
(b) under section 172(3)(a) or 173(2)(a) respectively of their decision not to comply with the request and of the parent’s right to appeal to the Tribunal against the determination.
(4) An authority need not comply with the time limits referred to in paragraphs (1) to (3) if it is impractical to do sobecause—
(a) the authority have requested advice from the head teacher of a school during a period beginning one week before any date on which that school was closed for a continuous period of not less than 4 weeks from that date and ending one weekbefore the date on which it re-opens;
(b) exceptional personal circumstances affect the child or his parent during the 6 week period referred to in paragraphs(1) to (3); or
(c) the child or his parent are absent from the area of the authority for a continuous period of not less than 4 weeks duringthe 6 week period referred to in paragraphs (1) to (3).
(5) Subject to pragraph (6), where under section 167(4) an authority have given notice to the child’s parent of their decision to make an assessment they shall complete that assessment within 10 weeks of the date on which such notice was given.
(6) An authority need not comply with the time limit referred to in paragraph (5) if it is impractical to do so because—
(a) in exceptional cases after receiving advice sought under regulation 6 it is necessary for the authority to seek further advice;
(b) the child’s parent has indicated to the authority that he wishes to provide advice to the authority after the expiry of 6 weeks from the date on which a request for such advice under regulation 6(a) was received, and the authority have agreed to consider such advice before completing the assessment;
(c) the authority have requested advice from the head teacher of a school under regulation 6(1)(b) during a period beginning one week before any date on which that school was closed for a continuous period of not less than 4 weeks from that date and ending one week before the date on which it re-opens;
(d) the authority have requested advice from a district health authority or a social services authority under regulation 6(c) or (e) respectively and the district health authority or the social services authority have not complied with that request within 6 weeks from the date on which it was made;
(e) exceptional personal circumstances affect the child or his parent during the 10 week period referred to in paragraph (5);
(f) the child or his parent are absent from the area of the authority for a continuous period of not less than 4 weeks duringthe 10 week period referred to in paragraph (5); or
(g) the child fails to keep an appointment for an examination or a test during the 10 week period referred to in paragraph(5).
(7) Subject to paragraph (8), where an authority have requested advice from a district health authority or a social services authority under regulation 6(1)(c) or (e) respectively they shall comply with that request within 6 weeks of the dateon which they receive it.
(8) A district health authority or a social services authority need not comply with the time limit referred to inparagraph (7) if it is impractical to do so because—
(a) exceptional personal circumstances affect the child or his parent during the 6 week period referred to in paragraph (7);
(b) the child or his parent are absent from the area of the authority for a continuous period of not less than 4 weeks duringthe 6 week period referred to in paragraph (7);
(c) the child fails to keep an appointment for an examination or a test made by the district health authority or the social services authority respectively during the 6 week period referred to in paragraph (7); or
(d) they have not before the date on which a copy of a notice has been served on them in accordance with regulation 5(1) or a notice has been served on them in accordance with regulation 5(3) produced or maintaied any information or recordsrelevant to the assessment of the child under section 167.

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Source: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1994/1047/regulation/11 (the official version)
Page: https://openlegislation.uk/education-special-educational-needs-regulations-1994/regulation-11
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives.