EHC plans and annual reviews
An EHC plan describes a child or young person's special educational, health and care needs. It sets outcomes that will help the child learn and prepare for the next stage of their education and adulthood - the outcomes will relate to their future:
- skills and abilities
- employment or higher education
- independent living
- good health
- joining in with the community
The plans are legal documents that belong to the child or young person. They can start from birth and could continue into further education and training, so from the age of 0 to 25 years. They are reviewed every year so that they can adapt to the child's needs as they develop.
The SEND Code of Practice says:
The purpose of an EHC plan is to make special educational provision to meet the special educational needs of the child or young person, to secure the best possible outcomes for them across education, health and social care and, as they get older, prepare them for adulthood. (9.2)
This animation below is a short introduction to EHC plans.
EHC plans are for children and young people who have a special educational need or disability that cannot be met by the support that is available at their school or college. Most children and young people with special educational needs will have help given to them without the need for an EHC Plan. This is called SEN support.
The SEND Code of Practice says:
In considering whether an EHC needs assessment is necessary, the local authority should consider whether there is evidence that despite the early years provider, school or post-16 institution having taken relevant and purposeful action to identify, assess and meet the special educational needs of the child or young person, the child or young person has not made expected progress. (9.14)
The law states that if your child has or may have special needs and may need provision to be made via an EHC plan the local authority must conduct an EHC needs assessment. You do not have to prove that an EHC plan is definitely necessary to obtain an assessment you just have to show it may be necessary. If you think your child needs more help than the school can provide, you can ask for an assessment.
An EHCP can be in place up to the age of 25, however the plan will stop if the young person:
- goes to university
- gets a job
- tells their local authority they no longer want their EHC plan, or
- the child or young person no longer needs a higher level of additional help and the local authority decides that the EHC plan should cease.
The SEND Code of Practice says that EHC plans should:
- be based on decisions made openly, and with parents, children and young people
- describe what the child or young person can do
- be clear, concise, understandable and accessible
- consider how best to achieve the outcomes for the child or young person. They must take into account the evidence from the EHC needs assessment
- specify clear outcomes
- consider alternative ways of providing support if a parent or young person wishes it. This could include having a Personal Budget
- show how education, health and care provision will be coordinated
- be forward looking, for example, anticipating, planning and commissioning for important transition points in a child or young person’s life
- describe how informal support as well as formal support from statutory agencies can help in achieving agreed outcomes
- have a review date
Every EHC plan must include at least the following 12 sections, but each local authority can decide how to set these out.
The sections are:
A: The views, interests and aspirations of you and your child or the young person
B: Your child’s or young person’s special educational needs
C: Health needs related to their SEN or to a disability
D: Social care needs related to their SEN or to a disability
E: Planned outcomes for your child or the young person
F: Special educational provision. Provision must be specified for each and every need shown in section B
G: Any health provision required that is related to their SEN or to a disability
H1: Any social care provision that must be made for your child or young person under 18
H2: Any other social care provision required that is related to their SEN or to a disability
I: The name and type of the school, maintained nursery school, post-16 institution or other institution to be attended
J: Details of how any personal budget will support particular outcomes and the provision it will be used for
K: Who provided the advice and information gathered during the EHC needs assessment
Where the child or young person is in or beyond year 9, the EHC plan must also include the provision required by your child or young person to help prepare for adulthood and independent living.
You can read the full list of what must be included in each section in the SEND Code of Practice sections 9.62 and 9.63.
There is more information in IPSEA's detailed checklist covering each of these sections
There is free e-learning called New CDC E-learning course: Holistic Outcomes in EHC Plans via the council for disabled children.org.uk website.
The law says that parents or the young person has a right to request that a particular school, college or other institution is named in the EHC plan. The Local Authority must agree to this request unless:
- it would be unsuitable for the age, ability, aptitude or SEN of the child or young person
or
- the attendance of the child or young person there would be incompatible with the efficient education of others, or the efficient use of resources
You can find out more about your rights to request a particular school or college in the SEND Code of Practice sections 9.78 to 9.90.
There is more information about choosing a school.
The SEND Code of Practice says:
Local authorities must consult the child and the child’s parent or the young person throughout the process of assessment and production of an EHC plan (9.21)
Your views, and your child’s views, are really important. The local authority, school or college should help you take part and involve you in decision making.
The local authority is responsible for ensuring that the special educational needs set out in the EHC plan are met and that the special educational provision is made, whatever their funding arrangements or agreements with other service providers.
All young people with an EHC plan and all parents/carers of children with an EHC plan can ask for a SEND Personal Budget if they want to. The SEND Code of Practice says:
- A Personal Budget is an amount of money identified by the local authority to deliver provision set out in an EHC plan where the parent or young person is involved in securing that provision (9.95) In other words, it is an amount of money set aside from the total amount which funds the help in an EHC plan. It is not extra money. The purpose of the Personal Budget is to give the family more control about how the help in the EHC plan is provided
Sections 9.110 to 9.118 of the SEND Code of Practice tell you more about what can be included in a Personal Budget.
SEND personal budgets usually cover any aspects of help in Section F of the EHC plan which cannot easily be provided by a bulk commissioned service, such as the local speech and language therapy service. An example which might be considered for a SEND personal budget is a very specialised therapy which everyone agrees the child requires and is not available from the local commissioned provider.
A young person with SEND, or a parent of a child with SEND, can ask their Education, Health and Care Coordinator (EHCCo) for a personal budget at the time a draft EHC plan is issued or during an annual review of an EHC plan.
The decision about whether a personal budget is agreed is made by a panel of professionals at Buckinghamshire Council. They will look at information you provide about what you want the money for and how much it will cost. They make their decision in relation to the law around personal budgets and the local personal budget policy. For example, you won't be able to use the personal budget to pay for a school place. If the help is to be provided in school, the head teacher will need to agree.
If Buckinghamshire Council agrees to your request for a personal budget, you can choose whether to manage it yourself or ask Buckinghamshire Council or a third party to do so. If you manage it yourself you will receive the money via a Direct Payment.
There are other types of Direct Payment available which don't require an EHC plan, but have other eligibility criteria. These include for short breaks and other social care help, health, transport. You can find out more here: Personal Budgets explained with subtitles (Kids)
You can ask your Education, Health and Care Coordinator to ask the panel to look at their decision again. If this step is not successful, you can complain about the decision.
It is important to know your rights if you are not happy with the EHC plan.
A young person with SEND or a parent/carer of a child with SEND must be sent a draft, or proposed version of the new EHC plan or amended EHC plan before it becomes the final legal version - the final legal version is called the Final Plan or the Final Amended Plan. You must be given at least 15 days from the day the draft EHC plan or draft amended EHC plan is sent to you to check it and send back any suggestions for changes that you want. In this time, you have the right to have a meeting with the Education, Health and Care Coordinator (EHCCo) to discuss the draft EHC plan or draft amended EHC plan. At this point, the Education, Health and Care Coordinator may agree to making changes, and issue a new version of the plan. If you need extra time, ask your Education, Health and Care Coordinator for this.
If a Final Plan or Final Amended plan is issued which you are not happy with, there are further steps you can take.
Annual Review of an EHC plan
When a child or young person has an Education, Health and Care plan (EHC plan) there is an ongoing requirement for the EHC plan to be reviewed by the local authority at least once a year. This is called the Annual Review. The local authority must decide whether to keep the plan as it is, make changes, or cease to maintain it within four weeks of the review meeting
The Annual Review is a legal process, not just a meeting – the process must be completed on or before the anniversary of when the EHC plan was first issued or the anniversary of the last review.
There are special arrangements for children aged 0 to 5. The SEND Code of Practice says:
Local authorities should consider reviewing an EHC plan for a child under five at least every three to six months to ensure that the provision continues to be appropriate. 9.178
The SEND Code of Practice says:
Reviews must be undertaken in partnership with the child and their parent or the young person, and must take account of their views, wishes and feelings, including their right to request a Personal Budget. (9.168)
Your views, and your child’s views, are really important. The local authority, school or college should help you take part and involve you in decision making.
The review must be done in partnership with you and your child or the young person, and must take account of your views, wishes and feelings.
There is law around what happens during an annual review -
- before the annual review meeting
- at the annual review meeting
- after the annual review meeting
The annual review is only completed once the required actions at each of these stages have taken place.
The meeting organiser must ask for information from the child or young person, their parents/carers and professional teams working with the child or young person. The information should help to find out whether the EHC plan will need changing.
You must be invited to attend the meeting at least 2 weeks beforehand.
You must be sent any written reports at least 2 weeks beforehand.
Usually the meeting organiser is the early years setting, school or college the child or young person attends. If they are not on roll at an education setting, Buckinghamshire Council will organise the meeting.
Education settings and families should help children and young people to prepare for the meeting. Do they understand the purpose of their EHCP and how it will give them the help they need to reach their ambitions? SENDIAS provides training on this for young people, parents/carers and professionals.
There is information for Buckinghamshire education settings including template letters and records.
The child or young person should always be encouraged to join the meeting. It is about them and for them. They may need help to participate as fully as possible. Any actions agreed at the meeting are more likely to be successful if the child or young person's views are fully understood.
At the meeting you can expect to discuss:
- Whether the child or young person's needs have changed
- Whether the help in the plan is still working for them
- What progress they have made towards the outcomes on their EHCP
- Whether the outcomes on the EHCP should be changed
- Whether the outcomes on the EHCP will help the child or young person prepare for adulthood. (This is compulsory from year 9)
- Whether the education placement is still appropriate
The views expressed at the meeting and any actions agreed will be included in a written report of the meeting. Education placements for Buckinghamshire children and young people are expected to use a Buckinghamshire Council 'record of annual review' template.
Within two weeks of the annual review meeting the school or college must send the report to the local authority, and everyone invited to the meeting. The report must set out recommendations on any amendments required to the EHCP
Within 4 weeks of the annual review meeting, the local authority must send a letter to the parents or carer notifying them whether or not it intends to:
When the EHCP is to be amended, the local authority must include a draft amended EHCP, explaining what the proposed changes are. When the EHCP is not to be amended or is to be ceased, there is a right to appeal.
Where the EHCP is to be amended, the parents/carers or young person will be given 15 days to provide comments on the draft amended EHCP.
The final amended EHCP must be issued within 12 weeks of the annual review meeting. If you disagree with the final amended EHCP, there is a right to appeal
I need an early annual review
You can ask for an early annual review – see: Asking for an early review of an EHC plan - IPSEA
- You can read about annual reviews in Chapter 9 of the SEND Code of Practice, sections 9.166 - 9.185
- IPSEA has an annual review checklist
- The Buckinghamshire SEND Outcomes Toolkit and Progression Pathways Planning Toolkit support families, professionals and education settings in identifying goals, planning outcomes and exploring options for post-16 pathways, for children and young people with SEND. They are especially useful during Annual Reviews.