education, health & care plan (ehcp)

An Education, Health and Care Plan is a legally binding document that outlines a child or young person's special educational needs, health, and care needs. It also specifies the provisions they require in order to meet their needs and the outcomes they would like to achieve. 

An EHCP is required when a child's needs are not met by the normal support available in their school or setting. AN EHCP can be in place from the age of 0 to 25 years, to help children and young people progress through school and college, achieve their best, and prepare for adulthood. For most young people, the plan will end before they turn 25, unless they continue to benefit from remaining in education and training.

A request for an EHC Needs Assessment can be made by a child's parent, by the young person themselves or, if they attend a school or post 16 setting, by a representative from their educational setting.

The whole process, from the point when an assessment is requested (or a child or young person is brought to the Local Authority's attention) until the final EHCP is issued, must take no more than 20 weeks (subject to some exemptions).

An EHC Needs Assessment is an assessment of your child or young person’s education, health and care needs. Your Local Authority will carry out the assessment and they legally have to obtain advise from:

• You, as your child’s parent or as a young person
• Educational advice
• Medical advice
• Psychological advice (an Educational Psychologist)
• Social care advice
• Advice & information from any other person the LA thinks appropriate
• If your child is in or beyond year 9, advice and information in relation to provision to assist your child/you in preparing for adulthood
• Advice and information from any person you reasonably request

*There is no legal deadline for the LA to issue the draft plan. However, in order to meet the deadline to send the final plan, it would make sense for the Local Authority to send out the draft at Week 14. However, most Local Authorities will usually issue the draft EHCP along with their decision at Week 16. 

Once you receive the draft plan, you have 15 days to make comments and request your parental preference school.

EHCPs are required by law to contain certain sections, but they do not have to follow a fixed format. It is important to ensure your EHCP matches the legal requirements, as it could make it difficult to enforce if it doesn't.

Section A: The views, interests and aspirations of the child and their parents or the young person.

Section B: The child or young person’s special educational needs.

Section C: Health care needs which relate to their SEN.

Section D: Social care needs which relate to their SEN or a disability.

Section E: The outcomes sought for the child or young person.

Section F: The special educational provision required to meet their SEN.

Section G: Any health care provision reasonably required by the learning difficulties or disabilities which result in the child or young person having SEN.

Section H: Any social care provision required from social services under the Chronically Sick and Disabled Persons Act 1970, and/or reasonably required by the learning difficulties or disabilities which result in the child or young person having SEN.

Section I: The name of the school or other institution to be attended by the child or young person, and the type of setting (or just the type if no specific setting is named).

Section J: Details of any direct payments.

Section K: Copies of all advice and information obtained as part of the EHC needs assessment.

An EHCP is unlikely to remain the same over time. As children develop, the EHCP is likely to become out of date. A change in educational setting, or relocation to a different LA would warrant the need for the EHCP to be amended to reflect the change in needs and circumstances.

Additionally, for a child over the age of 5, the EHCP should be reviewed by your LA alongside the educational setting, you and your child. (For children under the age of 5, this should be more frequent than annually). This process is called an annual review. If your child is moving to a new school or college, the annual review process may be brought forward, as it must be carried out well in advance of the change in settings.

Your LA can also decide to make changes to the EHCP at any time, outside of the annual review process, but it must still follow the statutory process. It may also be necessary for you to request an early review, for example, if a school placement has broken down.

If you are unhappy with the LA's decisions, the content of the EHCP or the setting named in the EHCP; it may be necessary to lodge an appeal to the SEND Tribunal. You can only appeal to the SEND Tribunal when you are within an open appeal window. You have open appeal windows at the following points of the EHCP timeline:

Week 6: If the LA refuse to Assess.

Week 16: If the LA refuse to Issue.

Week 20: If you disagree with the content of the EHCP, including the setting named by the LA.

You could obtain funding for legal aid (if eligible) for legal help with appeals to the SEND Tribunal from the Legal Aid Agency. Legal Aid covers the preparation of the case, from submitting the appeal form through to preparation for the hearing, but it does not cover representation at the hearing.

Eligibility to Legal Aid is means tested. If the case concerns a child and the parents have the right of appeal, the means test will be carried out on the parents. If the case concerns a young person (age 16+), the young person will have the right of appeal. In some cases, a young person may qualify for Legal Aid in their own right. However, if they live with their parents, the means of the young person and parents will usually both be taken into account.

Legal Aid can also cover the cost of obtaining private assessments and reports as evidence to support the parent or young person’s case.

You can check your eligibility, and find a solicitor, by clicking on the 'Legal Aid Checker' and 'Find a Solicitor' buttons in our Useful Resources section at the bottom of this page.