A Guide to your Entitlement to a Section 139a Learning Difficulty Assessment

Y-gen has been contacted by parents of young people with learning difficulties and disabilities who are unsure of their legal entitlements. This note briefly explains your legal entitlements. We have attached a related document if you wish to read the more detailed source information.

Who is entitled to an assessment?

A young person is entitled to a Section 139a Learning Difficulty Assessment:

• if they have or had a statement of special educational needs and intend to leave school to move on to post-16 education or training;
• is over compulsory school age but has not reached the age of 25;
• appears to the authority to have a learning difficulty; and
• is receiving or is likely to receive post 16 education or training.

A young person has a learning difficulty if:

• the young person has a significantly greater difficulty in learning than the majority of persons of the same age; or
• the young person has a disability which either prevents or hinders them from making use of general education or training facilities.

The local authority can also decide whether an assessment would be beneficial for any young person with learning difficulties and disabilities who does not have a statement of special educational needs. This is to enable these young people to fulfil their potential and to reduce the risk of them dropping out of learning. These young people may have been on a school action plus or school action list.

It also applies to young people who acquire a learning difficulty and/or disability through injury or disease.

What is a Section 139a Learning Difficulty Assessment?

The Section 139a Learning Difficulty Assessment is similar to a statement of special educational needs in that it sets out what additional learning support a young person will need when continuing their education. It is a written report of the young person's educational and training needs and the provision required to meet them.

Post-16 education and training can mean a further education college, training provider, school 6th form, specialist college, higher education or apprenticeship training. We collectively refer to them as post-16 learning providers.

The post-16 learning provider should refer to this document when arranging a young person's education and training. It may also be helpful if a young person gets a job with training.

How is an assessment arranged?

Your local authority must arrange for an assessment of a young person to be conducted at some time during his or her last year of compulsory schooling or when they intend to move from one learning provider to another up until the age of 25 years.

The Section 139a Learning Difficulty Assessment is independent of any learning provider assessment since it looks at which learning provider offers the most suitable and reasonable learning provision to meet your young person's needs.

Your local authority has a duty to ensure that enough suitable education and training is provided to meet the reasonable needs of young people in their area who are aged between 16 and 25 years who are subject to learning difficulty assessment.