What are Education, Health and Care Plans?
An education, health and care plan (EHC plan) is a legal document which describes a child or young person’s special educational needs, the support they need and the outcomes they would like to achieve.
The special educational provision described in an EHC plan must be provided by your local authority (LA). This means an EHC plan can give your child or young person extra educational support. It can also give you more choice about which school or other setting should be attended.
An EHC plan can only be issued after an Education, Health and Care needs assessment has been carried out.
EHC Needs Assessments
An education, health and care (EHC) needs assessment is an assessment of your child or young person’s education, health and care needs. It is the first step to getting an Education Health and Care (EHC plan). An EHC plan can result in additional support and funding for a child or young person with special educational needs (SEN).
Our Education, health and care needs assessment webinar looks at routes to assessment, timescales involved and possible outcomes.
There are two main ways to request an EHC needs assessment:
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The local authority must carry out an assessment if they answer yes to both parts of the legal test:
The Children & Families Act 2014, Section 36 - Assessment of education, health and care needs
Children and Families Act 2014 (legislation.gov.uk)
(8) (8) The local authority must secure an EHC needs assessment for the child or young person if, after having regard to any views expressed and evidence submitted under subsection (7), the
authority is of the opinion that—
(a) the child or young person has or may have special educational needs, and
(b) it may be necessary for special educational provision to be made for the child or young person in accordance with an EHC plan.
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If the local authority has agreed to carry out a full assessment, they will start gathering information about your child. The local authority must seek advice and information from a range of people, and they must return this within six weeks of the request.
The statutory timescale is 20 weeks and if the local authority agree to issue a plan after the needs assessment the final plan will be issued at week 20.
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If you have received a decision letter from Sheffield City Council saying that they do not agree to the EHC needs assessment, this would be known as 'refusal to assess' and you can appeal this decision if you wish.
Have a look at our mediation and Tribunals page for more information
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A review of an EHC Plan must take place at least once a year. This is to make sure:
the plan describes a child or young person’s needs in an accurate way, and
the right support for them is in place.
A meeting is held as part of the review process.
The child or young person’s school, nursery or college arranges the annual review in most cases. They will ask relevant professionals to attend or send up to date information about your child.
You and your child will be asked to give your views as part of the review. You can do this in writing if you want. You will also be invited to the review meeting.
Any reports about your child must be sent out at least two weeks before the meeting. This includes those sent in by parents.
Have a look at our annual review page for more information
What to do when you receive a draft EHC plan
If the local authority decides to issue an EHC plan following an EHC needs assessment they must send you a draft version first. You will then have 15 days (from the date on the letter) to:
make comments about the draft EHC plan
request a meeting with the local authority to discuss the draft EHC plan
request that the educational setting you would like is named in the final EHC plan
A draft EHC plan does not have school named in Section I and you may want to look at different types of school placement at this stage. SENDIAS has some choosing a school information which lists both special schools and integrated resource units in Sheffield and surrounding areas.
The local authority decide what the needs of the child or young person are and will then decide what provision is required to meet the needs. Lastly they look at placements which are able to make the provision and this will be named in the final plan only and not the draft version.
SENDIAS has a weekly information session Checking a Draft EHC Plan where an advisor can talk you through this stage.