The short version
A private report can't compel a school to do anything. No report from any provider — us included — obliges a school to change provision, and a private diagnosis is not an EHCP and doesn't guarantee one.
What a good report does is give the school clear, professional evidence about how your child's mind works and specific, practical recommendations they can act on. In our experience most schools take that seriously and act on a good chunk of it, because most SENCOs genuinely want to help and are working with limited information. The report changes the conversation from "we think something is going on" to a documented professional opinion with concrete suggestions attached.
If a provider promises you an EHCP, walk away
Nobody can promise you an EHCP, a school place, a particular level of support, or that a local authority will accept their report. Those are decisions for schools and local authorities against statutory criteria, not for a private clinic. A provider who implies otherwise is overselling, and that's worth knowing before you hand over money.
SEN support vs an EHCP — where a private report fits
Most support in English schools happens through SEN Support, which is school-level and doesn't need a diagnosis or an EHCP at all. This is where a private report is most immediately useful: it gives the SENCO evidence and specific strategies to build into the support plan, often quickly.
An EHCP is a statutory local-authority process with its own assessment and legal criteria, based on need and the evidence that need isn't being met by what's already available. A private diagnostic report can form part of the evidence in that process. It is not a substitute for it, and it doesn't start it — you or the school request an EHC needs assessment from the local authority separately.
Put simply: the report helps most with what the school can do next term. It's one input among several into the longer statutory route.
What makes a report actually useful to a school
A diagnosis on its own gives a teacher very little to work with. The parts SENCOs use are the specifics. A report worth paying for should contain:
- Clear conclusions and the reasoning behind them — including which criteria were considered and why, not just a label
- Information gathered from school as well as home — a report based only on what a parent reported is weaker evidence, and SENCOs notice
- Named assessment tools and validated rating scales, so another professional can see how the conclusion was reached
- Practical, classroom-level recommendations — specific enough for a teacher to act on next week
- Recommendations for home too, so support is consistent across both settings
Our reports include all of the above, and the report is included in the assessment fee rather than charged separately. We also offer a follow-up session at £95 if you'd like a school liaison letter or help preparing for a meeting.
How to raise it with your child's school
- Ask for a meeting with the SENCO, not just the class teacher — the SENCO owns provision decisions.
- Send the report ahead of the meeting so they've had time to read it properly rather than skimming it in front of you.
- Go in with two or three specific asks drawn from the recommendations, rather than the whole document. Concrete requests are far more likely to happen.
- Ask for what's agreed in writing, with who's doing it and by when.
- Ask for a review date. Support that's agreed and never revisited tends to quietly lapse.
You don't have to wait for a report to start
Schools can put support in place now, without any diagnosis. If you're waiting — for us, for the NHS, for anyone — it's worth asking the SENCO directly what they can do on the basis of what they already see. Many will act if asked plainly, and it costs nothing to ask.
Will the NHS or our GP accept it?
A private report is a professional clinical opinion and can usefully inform your GP and NHS services. But NHS services set their own criteria for accepting an external diagnosis, and practice varies between areas — some will accept a private diagnosis for ongoing care, others will want their own assessment, particularly where medication is involved.
One specific thing you should know before paying us: our assessments are led by a UK-qualified (MRCPCH) specialist paediatrician, whose GMC registration is currently in progress and expected to complete in late 2026. Some NHS services and local authorities only accept reports from GMC-registered clinicians. Many schools find our reports valuable regardless, but if your specific goal depends on NHS or local-authority acceptance, raise it with us on the free call and we'll tell you candidly where you stand.
We can't promise how any specific NHS service or GP will treat our report, and we won't pretend otherwise. If your main goal is NHS-prescribed medication, check with your GP first what they will and won't accept from a private provider — before you pay for anything. Remember we assess and report only; we don't prescribe.
General information about how private assessment reports are typically used in English schools. Education law and local authority practice vary, and this is not legal or medical advice. For advice specific to your child, speak to your school's SENCO, your local authority, or an independent SEND advice service such as your local IASS. In an emergency call 999, or 111 for urgent NHS advice.