SummaryUnder Section 5 of the Education Act 1981 each local education authority has a duty to make a formal multi‐disciplinary assessment of a child's special educational needs should s/ he possibly require special educational provision. The paper examines most (97.72 per cent) of all the referrals made in Humberside under the guidelines of the Act in the first two years. The primary referrals were analysed along a number of different parameters ‐ date of referral, age at referral, referral agency. Combinations of these elements were examined in detail. Tentative estimates are made of the percentage of the school population being referred and the proportion identified as having special educational needs in one authority. County Humberside covers both rural and inner city populations, and it is proposed that as a typical authority the figures shown may hold pointers pertinent to future planning by this and other local education authorities.