This paper presents a new grid-based method for investigating the evolution of the steep-spectrum radio luminosity function, with the aim of quantifying the high-redshift cut-off suggested by previous work. To achieve this, the Combined EIS-NVSS Survey of Radio Sources (CENSORS) has been developed; this is a 1.4-GHz radio survey, containing 135 sources complete to a flux density of 7.2mJy, selected from the NRAO VLA Sky Survey (NVSS) over 6deg^2^ of the ESO Imaging Survey Patch D (EISD). The sample is currently 7% spectroscopically complete, with the remaining redshifts estimated via the K-z or I-z magnitude-redshift relation. CENSORS is combined with additional radio data from the Parkes All-Sky, Parkes Selected Regions, Hercules and Very Large Array (VLA) COSMOS samples to provide comprehensive coverage of the radio power versus redshift plane. The redshift distributions of these samples, together with radio source count determinations, and measurements of the local luminosity function, provide the input to the fitting process.