Children aged under 18 with disabilities have a right to an assessment under Section 17 of the Children Act 1989. The local authority then has a duty to provide any services necessary to meet their needs. 

Your child may be entitled to an assessment of their needs even if they do not yet have a formal diagnosis of autism. This is because Section 17 of the Children Act 1989 applies to all ‘children in need’. A child is in need if:

• he or she needs the support of local authority services to achieve or maintain a reasonable standard of development or health 
• he or she needs the support of local authority services to prevent the impairment of or further harm to their development or health
• he or she is disabled.

The Children and Families Act 2014 amends the Children Act 1989 requiring local councils to assess parent carers on the appearance of need or where an assessment is requested by the parent. This is called a parent carers needs assessment, and it also considers the individual needs of a parent carer and their wellbeing. This assessment can be combined with one for the disabled child, and could be carried out by the same person at the same time. If you as a parent request an assessment for your child, you should also request a carer’s assessment. To find out more about your rights as a carer, you can read our support for carers information.

What is an assessment?

An assessment allows the council to collect information about your child and your family and to identify any needs for support that you may have. A social worker will carry out the assessment. They will need to meet with you and your child, usually by visiting you at home so you do not have to worry about taking your child to an unfamiliar environment.

How do I ask for an assessment?

To request an assessment, you should write to your local social services department in your council. . You can use our template letter (link to letter). Be sure to delete any statements which do not apply to your child. To make sure that the letter is received by the right person, it may be helpful to take the following steps:

1. Phone your local social services office and ask which team deals with requests for Children Act 1989 assessments for autistic children. Ask for a postal address of the relevant team and don’t be put off from getting this. If necessary, explain you’re writing a letter about your child’s disability and about his/her need for an assessment and wish to send it to the appropriate team so you need an address. For many local authorities the first point of contact is a call centre. The person who answers the phone will not necessarily know much about autism and they may not understand the urgency of your situation.
2. If possible, find out the name of the team manager of the team you’re writing to so you can address the letter to him/her, but if this proves too difficult, address the letter to the Team Manager.
3. Send the letter, remembering to put a date on it and keep a copy of it (whether a paper photocopy or on your computer).
4. Wait for a response from the team you wrote to.  If you’ve not heard back within a few weeks, phone the team and ask for an update.
5. If you haven’t had any success finding out the team responsible, address the letter to the Director of Social Services who will probably not reply to you directly but will pass it on to the right person.

Government guidance on assessing children in need (Working together to Safeguard Children, 2013) states that within one working day of a referral coming in, children’s services should decide what response is required. If the decision is to take no action you should be notified promptly and given reasons for this.

The assessment process

Social services will need to fully evaluate the level of your child’s needs and the help you as a parent(s) are able to offer as well as the services your child might need. Some councils will carry out an initial assessment, followed by a more detailed one if it is needed. In other authorities a single assessment is used. The social worker may liaise with other professionals with whom you have contact to find out more about your child. 

All local authorities use slightly different methods of assessment, so it’s hard to predict exactly what questions they will ask. It’s important that they get as full a picture of your family’s situation as possible.

At the end of the assessment period the local authoirty should tell you what services, if any, it is going to provide, and you should be given the opportunity to respond to this. You should also be informed that you are entitled to use the local authority’s complaints procedure if you’re unhappy with the way the assessment has been conducted or the decisions made.

Common Assessment Framework (CAF)

Some local authorities will carry out a CAF. A CAF is an assessment tool that is used to assess the unmet needs of a child. After an initial assessment to identify your worries, this form can then be shared between professionals involved in your child’s life to better understand your child’s needs and to work out ways to further support them. The CAF is completely voluntary and would be carried out with the involvement of you and your child. You and your child can choose to be involved and can withdraw at any time, and you can also choose which providers you wish to share your information with.

A CAF can only be carried out by someone who has been trained to do so such as an early years worker, a youth worker, school staff (such as teachers) or medical staff (such as health visitors). The CAF looks into these three main areas:

• the development of the child
• their parents and carers
• the family and community.

Once the CAF has been completed, you will be given a copy of it and the worker may liaise with other professionals and agencies involved in your child’s life to discuss ways of meeting their needs. This could be by arranging for extra support with school work or access to a short break service.

If multiple teams are to be involved in supporting your family they will work as a team with you. A lead professional will be identified. You will usually be able to have a say regarding who is to be your lead professional. It is a good idea to choose someone who knows your family and you feel comfortable talking to. They will keep you up to date and co-ordinate the team around your family. Meetings to discuss how things are progressing are sometimes called Team around the family or TAF meetings.

The CAF does not take the place of a core or initial assessment. If a CAF has been completed, and it is decided that a referral to Children’s Services should be made, an allocated social worker will still have to carry out a full child in need assessment. However, in some cases, the CAF can reduce the number of assessments that you and your child have to go through.

Eligibility criteria

Social Services departments are allowed to operate eligibility criteria to decide which team will assess a child’s needs. Sometimes autistic children do not meet the threshold for assessment under the disabled children team's eligibility criteria. In these cases, it is a good idea to ask to see the children in need team's eligibility criteria as well. Someone should be assessing your child's needs whether it is the disabled children's team or the children in need team. If you are told you do not meet either team's eligibility criteria you have the right to complain using your local authority's complaints procedure.

It is also lawful to use eligibility criteria to ensure that services are provided to families in the most need. Often these will be attached to services provided under the Chronically Sick and Disabled Person’s Act. Not every child will be entitled to everything on the list and the local authority can use eligibility criteria to decide which children can access a service.

However, the local authority cannot have blanket policies such as ‘we never provide holidays’ or ‘we do not give respite to children under eight years of age’. Similar statements to these have been challenged in court and found to be unlawful. Local authorities have to consider each individual case and decide whether there is a need for the service.

The care plan

Once the assessment has been completed the social worker should draw up a ‘child in need care plan’. This outlines the needs that have come to light through the assessment process and the services that will be offered to your child as a consequence. They will not list services that need to be obtained from other statutory bodies such as the health authority or local education authority, although they may make reference to the fact that you will be approaching these departments for further help. Below is an example of how a care plan may look: