Right to Choose for children and young people
Fewer providers hold children's contracts, so the choice is narrower and the evidence bar is higher.
Children and young people in England can use Right to Choose for ADHD and autism assessment where a provider holds the relevant NHS contract. Waits typically run 10 to 40 weeks against 12 months to 3 years locally. School evidence is usually required, and the right does not replace EHCP processes.
right to choose adhd child | Reviewed August 2026
Where children's pathways differ
Adult assessment can rest largely on self-report. Children's assessment cannot. Providers need evidence from at least two settings, which in practice means home and school, and that evidence gathering is usually what sets the pace rather than clinician availability.
Expect the provider to request teacher-completed rating scales, a developmental history from a parent or carer, and sometimes classroom observation. Chasing school paperwork is the most common cause of delay, so start it early.
Right to Choose and EHCPs
A diagnosis is not an Education, Health and Care Plan and does not trigger one. The EHCP process runs through the local authority against educational need, not diagnosis. A diagnosis can support an application as evidence, but schools that require a diagnosis first are describing local practice, not law.
Choosing a children's provider
Confirm they hold an NHS contract covering children and young people in your area
Ask whether assessment is multidisciplinary and who signs the formulation
Ask what post-diagnostic support is included for the family, not just the child
If medication may follow, confirm they provide titration for under-18s in-house
For providers
Children's pathways need a genuinely multidisciplinary bench: paediatricians or CAMHS psychiatrists, clinical psychologists, speech and language therapists and specialist nurses, with supervision that holds across all of them. Building that mix is materially harder than staffing an adult assessment line, and it is where most expansion plans stall.
Common questions
- Can children use Right to Choose?
- Yes, in England, where a provider holds the relevant NHS contract for children and young people. Availability is narrower than for adults.
- Does a diagnosis get my child an EHCP?
- No. EHCPs are assessed by the local authority against educational need. A diagnosis can support the application but does not trigger one.
- Will the school need to be involved?
- Almost always. Providers need cross-setting evidence, so teacher rating scales or a school report are usually required before assessment can proceed.
- How long do children's assessments take under Right to Choose?
- Commonly 10 to 30 weeks for ADHD and 12 to 40 weeks for autism in 2026, against 12 months to 3 years on many local NHS services.
Keep reading
Right to Choose autism assessment
The legal right is straightforward. The bottleneck is provider capacity, and that is a workforce problem before it is a policy one.
ReadRight to Choose ADHD assessment
Assessment is no longer the hard part. Getting medication titrated and shared care accepted is where the pathway breaks.
ReadHow a Right to Choose referral works
Most refused requests are refused because the referral named no provider, not because the right was disputed.
ReadExplore next
Running a Right to Choose service?
Scale Health builds the clinical benches these pathways depend on: assessors, independent prescribers, supervising clinicians and consultant psychiatrists, credentialed before they start.