What an EHCP Is, and How Families in England Can Ask for One

If your child has special educational needs, you will probably hear the letters EHCP within your first few conversations with school. An Education, Health and Care Plan is a legal document, issued by your local authority in England, that describes a child or young person’s needs and the support they must receive. It can last from birth up to the age of 25.

Most children with SEND do not need one. Their needs are met through SEN Support, which is the help a school arranges from its own budget. An EHCP is for children whose needs are more than the school can reasonably provide on its own, or whose progress has stalled despite good support.

What makes an EHCP different

The main difference is that an EHCP is legally binding. Section F of the plan lists the special educational provision a child must receive, and the local authority has a duty to make sure it is delivered. Advice in a report can be ignored. Provision in Section F cannot.

A plan also names a school or setting in Section I. Families can ask for a particular school, including a mainstream school, and the local authority has to agree unless there is a lawful reason not to.

Who can ask for an assessment

You do not need the school’s permission. A parent, the school, or a young person aged 16 to 25 can ask the local authority for an Education, Health and Care needs assessment. Many families wait for the school to start the process, but the law does not require that.

Write to the SEND team at your local authority. Keep it short and factual:

• Your child’s name, date of birth and school
• A sentence saying you are requesting an EHC needs assessment
• A summary of their difficulties and how these affect learning
• What support has been tried, and what changed or did not change
• Copies of any reports you already have

Keep a copy of your letter or email and note the date you sent it. The timescales below run from that date.

The timeline the law sets

The SEND Code of Practice sets out the steps and the time each one may take.

1. The local authority has six weeks to decide whether to carry out an assessment.
2. If it agrees, it gathers advice from education, health and social care professionals, along with your views and your child’s.
3. If it decides to issue a plan, you receive a draft and have 15 days to comment and say which school you would like.
4. The whole process, from request to final plan, should take no longer than 20 weeks.

The legal test for starting an assessment is lower than many people expect. The authority must assess if a child has or may have special educational needs and may need special educational provision through a plan. You do not have to prove that a plan is needed before the assessment begins.

Preparing your evidence

Strong evidence describes what happens day to day. A diagnosis on its own says little about what support a child needs in a classroom. Useful material includes:

• School reports and records of the support already in place
• Reports from speech and language therapists, educational psychologists or occupational therapists
• Notes from your GP or paediatrician
• A diary of what you see at home: sleep, meltdowns after school, homework that takes hours, refusal to go in

Your child’s own voice matters too. Younger children might draw a picture of a good day and a hard day. Older children can write or record what helps and what does not.

If the answer is no

Local authorities do refuse requests. If they decide not to assess, or decide not to issue a plan after assessing, they must tell you why and explain your right to appeal.

Before appealing to the First-tier Tribunal (SEND), you must contact a mediation adviser. You can then choose mediation or ask for a certificate that lets you go straight to appeal. You normally have two months from the decision letter, or one month from the mediation certificate if that is later.

Free, independent advice is available. IPSEA offers legal guidance on SEND law, and every local area has a SEND Information, Advice and Support Service, often called SENDIASS.

When the plan arrives

Read the draft slowly. Check that every need in Section B has matching provision in Section F, and that Section F is specific. “Access to speech and language therapy” is vague. “Thirty minutes of speech and language therapy each week, delivered by a qualified therapist” is clear and enforceable.

Plans must be reviewed at least once a year. The annual review is your chance to say what is working, what has changed, and what needs to be added.

A final word for parents

The process can feel slow and formal, and many parents find it tiring. It helps to keep everything in one folder, to put requests in writing, and to ask the school’s SENCO to walk you through anything that is unclear. You know your child better than any report does. The plan works best when it describes the child you see every day.