Participation and provision in <scp>SEND</scp> assessment information: A longitudinal documentary analysis

Abstract Education, Health and Care (EHC) needs assessment decisions in England require Local Authorities to consider whether a child or young person may require provision beyond special educational needs (SEN) Support and ordinarily available arrangements. These decisions are made from request‐stage information, which can vary substantially in source, detail and quality. Such decisions are often informed by contemporaneous indicators of participation, including attendance, classroom engagement and educational progress, yet participation sustained through adaptation or intensive support may not indicate sustainable access to learning. This retrospective longitudinal documentary study examined how educational need, participation and provision sufficiency were represented across refusal‐to‐assess decisions, later EHC plans and first annual review records. Thirty matched case sets were analysed in which refusal decisions were followed by EHC plan issuance and an annual review approximately twenty‐four months later. Refusal decisions frequently interpreted observable participation as evidence that needs could be met within existing provision, while later documentation represented participation as dependent on structured support and environmental adaptation. The study does not claim direct access to internal local authority deliberation; rather, it examines the documentary construction of participation and provision across sequential statutory records. Findings highlight the importance of evidencing participation sustainability when interpreting statutory assessment thresholds.