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What is an Education, Health & Care Plan (EHCP)
Overview
An Education, Health and Care Plan (“EHCP” or “EHC plan”) is a legal document which identifies educational, health and social care needs and sets out the additional support (“provision”) required to meet those needs. It is written and maintained by your child’s or young person’s local authority (“LA”), after an Education, Health & Care needs assessment (EHCNA) has taken place.
An EHCP is for children and young people aged up to 25 whose Special Educational Needs and/or disabilities (SEND) cannot be reasonably met (i.e. supported) through their normally resourced local mainstream early years, school, or post-16 provision. (To see what this means in more detail, please look at our SEN Support page.)
The SEND Code of Practice (2015) states in 9.2 –“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. To achieve this, local authorities use the information from the assessment to:
- establish and record the views, interests and aspirations of the parents and child or young person
- provide a full description of the child or young person’s special educational needs and any health and social care needs
- establish outcomes across education, health and social care based on the child or young person’s needs and aspirations
- specify the provision required and how education, health and care services will work together to meet the child or young person’s needs and support the achievement of the agreed outcomes”.
SENAT
In West Sussex, the LA is represented by the Special Educational Needs Assessment Team (“SENAT”) in EHC plan-related issues (this includes the EHC needs assessment). SENAT has SEND Officers who work within teams, and you will have been allocated a named SEND officer to work with you during the EHC needs assessment process and until an EHC Plan has been agreed and finalised (another SEND officer then takes over). Your SEND Officer should therefore be the first person you contact if you have any questions about your child or young person’s EHC plan or related issues.
You can find your area team’s details via the Local Offer
Will I have opportunity to change the EHCP?
Throughout the EHC needs assessment, you may receive copies of reports that will be used in the writing of the EHC plan. If you disagree with anything within one of these reports, you should go back to the author and explain your concerns and ask them to amend it. It may be helpful to copy in or notify the SEND officer of your request for change(s), as they will also have received the report. You may be asked to provide evidence to support your request(s).
The local authority will always issue the EHC plan as a draft first, and you will have at least 15 days to make any comments or requests for amendments on the draft. Your SEND officer will often provide a deadline for these in their letter, as this aids them in achieving the statutory timescales. However, if you require more time, please speak with your SEND Officer about this. You can also request to meet with a representative of the local authority at this time, to discuss face-to-face, any changes you would like made. Again, please make this request through your SEND Officer.
As well as requesting changes, the draft stage is also the time to state your preference for educational setting and request a personal budget, should you want one (these are both left blank at the draft stage).
For more information on checking the draft, please see our Practical Steps Guide.
Receving the Final EHC plan
The final EHC plan must be issued within 20 weeks of the initial request for an EHC needs assessment (except for exceptional circumstances).
If it is possible, SENAT will work with you to resolve any disagreements there may be about the contents and /or the placement being named, but they may decide (and are lawfully allowed) to issue a final EHC plan without these being resolved. If this happens, you have the right to go to formal mediation or appeal to the SEND Tribunal. It is important that you understand the reasons why your requests about content and/or placement are not being considered, so do keep talking with your SEND Officer to gain a clearer understanding. These considerations will also be important should you choose to go to appeal, as they will form part of your case.
Local Information, Guidance and Policies
WSCC information:
WSCC Information for parent carers about EHC plans
West Sussex County Council’s website relating to EHC needs assessments and plans
Factsheets and Documents:
Detailed Information and Guidance
IPSEA guidance pages on what sections an EHCP should have, and what should be in sections B&F specifically.
Further Information
IASSN has created an Interactive EHCNA and EHCP guidance, which may be helpful