What is an Assessment of Need (AON)?
An Assessment of Need (AON) is a statutory process under the Disability Act 2005 used to identify whether a person has a disability and, where a disability is identified, their health and educational needs and the services considered appropriate to meet those needs.
The Assessment of Need is arranged by the HSE and results in a formal Assessment Report.
It is important for parents to know that an AON is a separate legal process.
Your child does not need to have an Assessment of Need before they can access HSE health or disability services.
Children can be referred directly to services such as a Children’s Disability Network Team (CDNT), Primary Care or other appropriate services depending on their needs.
Who is eligible to apply
You can apply for an Assessment of Need if the person being assessed was born on or after 1 June 2002.
An application can be made by:
- a parent
- a legal guardian
- a personal advocate
- the person themselves if they are aged 16 or over
This means that a young person aged 16 or 17 can apply for an Assessment of Need themselves.
How do I apply for an AON?
You can apply by completing the HSE Assessment of Need application form and sending it by post or email to your local Assessment of Need office.
You do not need a referral from a GP or another healthcare professional before making an application yourself.
Once the HSE receives a completed application, it should contact you within two weeks to confirm that it has been received.
Find your local HSE Assessment of Need office
What should an AON include?
An Assessment of Need must be carried out in accordance with the standards applying under the Disability Act 2005.
The Assessment Officer is independent in carrying out their statutory role.
Importantly, the assessment itself must be carried out without regard to the cost of providing a service or the HSE’s capacity to provide it.
The Assessment Report should determine:
- whether the person has a disability
- the nature and extent of that disability
- the health and educational needs arising from the disability
- the services considered appropriate to meet those needs
- the period of time ideally required to provide those services
- when the assessment should be reviewed
Section 8 of the Disability Act 2005
The type of assessment required will depend on the individual child or young person.
The Assessment Officer may arrange for the assessment to be carried out by a team of professionals or by an individual healthcare professional.
Depending on the child’s needs, professionals involved may include:
- psychologists
- speech and language therapists
- occupational therapists
- physiotherapists
- paediatricians
- other appropriately qualified professionals
The purpose is not simply to obtain a diagnosis. It is to establish whether there is a disability and identify the needs and appropriate services arising from it.
What happens after the AON?
When the assessment is completed, the Assessment Officer will issue an Assessment Report.
The report will state whether a disability has been identified and, where appropriate, the person’s health and educational needs and the services considered necessary.
If the Assessment Report identifies a disability and services are required, it is passed to an HSE Liaison Officer.
The Liaison Officer then prepares a Service Statement, setting out the services and supports that will be provided.
According to the HSE, the Service Statement should normally be issued within one month of the Assessment of Need.
It is important to distinguish between the two.
The Assessment of Need identifies a person’s needs independently of available resources. The Service Statement sets out the services that will actually be provided.
The Assessment Report must also specify when the assessment should be reviewed. Under the applicable regulations, that review date should be no later than 12 months from the date the Assessment Report is issued.
How long should an AON?
There are statutory timeframes for the Assessment of Need process.
The HSE should acknowledge a completed application within 14 days.
The assessment must commence as soon as possible and no later than three months after the completed application is received.
Once the assessment starts, it should be completed and the Assessment Report forwarded within a further three months.
This is why the process is commonly referred to as having a six-month statutory timeframe.
Exceptional circumstances can result in an assessment taking longer. Where this happens, the HSE must give reasons in writing and provide a new expected timeframe for completion.
Disability (Assessment of Needs, Service Statements and Redress) Regulations 2007
What can I do if my child’s AON is delayed?
If your child’s assessment has not started or been completed within the statutory timeframe, you can make a formal complaint under the Disability Act 2005.
A complaint can also be made if:
- the Assessment Officer determines that your child does not have a disability
- you believe the assessment did not comply with the required standards
- you disagree with the contents of the Service Statement
- a service included in the Service Statement has not been provided
Assessment of Need complaints are dealt with through the HSE’s dedicated Assessment of Need Complaints Office.
There is an important time limit.
A complaint should generally be made within three months of the issue giving rise to the complaint. An extension may be granted where reasonable cause for the delay can be shown.
HSE: Assessment of Need complaints and appeals
If you are dissatisfied with the outcome of the complaint, you may be able to appeal to the independent Disability Appeals Officer.
If recommendations made following the complaints process are not implemented within three months, there is also provision for an application to the Circuit Court for an enforcement order.
What are my options if the AON concludes with “No Disability” and I disagree?
If the Assessment Officer determines that your child does not have a disability and you disagree with that conclusion, you can make a complaint through the Assessment of Need complaints process.
This may be particularly relevant where you believe relevant medical information was not properly considered or that the assessment was not carried out in accordance with the required standards.
If you remain dissatisfied following the complaint, an appeal may be available to the Disability Appeals Officer.
Can an AON be refused because the HSE does not have enough resources?
An Assessment of Need itself is intended to be resource-blind.
Section 8 of the Disability Act 2005 specifically states that the assessment must be carried out without regard to the cost of, or capacity to provide, the services identified as appropriate.
The Court of Appeal considered this issue in A.B. v HSE [2023] IECA 275.
The Court found that the HSE’s former 2020 Standard Operating Procedure went too far by restricting the ability of Assessment Officers to obtain diagnostic assessments.
The Court confirmed that an AON cannot generally be treated as complete without an appropriate diagnostic assessment where the Assessment Officer reasonably considers that such an assessment is required to determine:
- the nature or extent of the disability
- the health or educational needs arising from it
- the services appropriate to meet those needs
However, the Court did not decide that a diagnostic assessment is required in every AON. Whether one is required depends on the individual circumstances and the Assessment Officer’s reasonable assessment of what is necessary.
Are private diagnoses accepted in place of an AON?
A private diagnosis and an Assessment of Need are not the same thing.
An AON is a statutory process under the Disability Act 2005 and results in a legal Assessment Report.
However, it would be too broad to say that the HSE does not recognise private diagnoses.
The HSE itself confirms that an Assessment of Need is not required to access health services, and existing clinical reports and diagnostic information may be relevant when a child’s needs are being considered.
The High Court case R.C. v HSE [2022] IEHC 652 involved particular circumstances where a child had already received a private diagnosis, but an adequate diagnosis had not been included in the child’s statutory AON despite previous court proceedings and orders.
The High Court found that the AON provided in that particular case fell short of what was required under the Disability Act.
The case should therefore not be read as establishing a general rule that all private diagnoses are rejected by the HSE.
Over 23,000 children are now overdue
The number of children waiting beyond the statutory Assessment of Need timeframe has continued to increase.
At the end of June 2026, the latest reported HSE figures showed that 23,282 children were overdue for completion of an Assessment of Need.
Of these:
- 20,017 children, or approximately 86%, were more than three months overdue
- 7,100 new AON applications had been received during the first half of 2026
- 3,043 AONs had been completed during the same period
- the number overdue had increased by 6.9% in just three months, from 21,782 at the end of March 2026
This represents a significant increase from the 14,221 AONs overdue at the end of 2024.
The pressure on the system has continued despite an increase in the number of assessments being completed.
Latest reported Assessment of Need backlog figures
The Government’s Roadmap for Service Improvement 2023 to 2026 had included a target of 19,042 completed assessments and reassessments.
By the end of the programme, that target had been missed by approximately 5,600 assessments.
When the roadmap began in 2023, just over 7,600 children were overdue an Assessment of Need. By March 2026, that figure had risen to 21,782.
Legal costs arising from AON delays
The continuing delays have also resulted in a substantial increase in legal challenges involving the Assessment of Need process.
Figures reported in August 2026 showed that the State had spent more than €23 million in legal costs arising from AON challenges since 2021.
The reported costs were:
- just over €870,000 in 2021
- €1.9 million in 2022
- €3.3 million in 2023
- €4 million in 2024
- €7.2 million in 2025
- €5.6 million during 2026 at the time the figures were released
These are legal costs arising from AON challenges. They are not compensation payments to families.
RTÉ: €23m spent on Assessment of Need challenges since 2021
For families, the important point remains that the Assessment of Need process carries statutory rights and timeframes.
If your child’s assessment has been delayed significantly, it is worth keeping the date on which the HSE received your completed application, along with all correspondence and notices received since then.
Recent legal developments
One of the most important decisions concerning the Assessment of Need process remains A.B. v HSE [2023] IECA 275.
The Court of Appeal considered whether an Assessment of Need could be treated as complete where it did not include a diagnostic assessment of the child’s disability.
The Court found that a diagnostic assessment is required where the Assessment Officer reasonably considers it necessary to determine the nature and extent of the disability, the needs arising from it, or the services required.
The Court also found that the HSE’s former 2020 Standard Operating Procedure imposed unlawful restrictions on Assessment Officers performing their statutory functions.
In particular, the Court made clear that a diagnostic assessment considered appropriate by an Assessment Officer under section 8 of the Disability Act should not depend on the resources available to the HSE.
This is consistent with section 8 of the Disability Act, which requires the assessment itself to be carried out without regard to the cost of, or capacity to provide, the services identified.
Proposed changes to the process
The Government is currently progressing legislation intended to reform the Assessment of Need process.
The General Scheme was approved in December 2025 and was subsequently renamed the Disability (Assessment of Need) Bill in the Government’s Summer 2026 legislative programme.
The proposed reforms are intended to make the AON process more efficient and allow an earlier determination of whether a person meets the statutory definition of disability.
Importantly, these changes have not replaced the current Disability Act rules at the time of writing.
The Government has stated that the proposed reforms are not intended to remove a parent’s existing right to apply for an AON or change the statutory six-month timeframe.
The legislation is therefore worth monitoring, but families applying now should continue to consider their rights under the existing Disability Act 2005 and accompanying regulations.
Assessment of Need delays
Thousands of children are currently waiting beyond the statutory timeframe for their Assessment of Need.
For a family waiting for an assessment, the numbers themselves may matter less than understanding what should have happened in their own child’s case.
If you are concerned about a delay, it can help to keep:
- the date your completed AON application was received
- the HSE acknowledgement letter
- any date given for commencement of the assessment
- correspondence explaining delays
- assessment or medical reports already available
- correspondence with your Assessment Officer
- copies of any complaints or responses
