EHC Plans Explained: What every parent or young person needs to know

What is an EHC Plan?

An Education, Health and Care (EHC) Plan is a legally binding document that outlines the support a child or young person needs across education, health and social care. More specifically, it outlines the child’s or young person’s needs, the special educational, social care or health care provision they require to meet their needs and the educational placement they should attend in accordance with the provision they require. If a young person (who is 16 years or over) is still in education, EHC Plans can remain in place until that young person reaches the age of 25.

EHC Plans replaced Statements of Special Educational Need when the Children and Families Act 2014 was implemented. The Children and Families Act 2014 created EHC Plans with the intention of giving greater protection to children and young people with SEND. Section F of an EHC Plan sets out educational provision that the child or young person must receive in order for their special educational needs to be met. Local authorities must fund all the provision set out within Section F of an EHC plan, in order to comply with their legal obligations under section 42 of the Children and Families Act 2014.

How to get an EHC Plan?

Any parent/carer or young person can make a request to their local authority to carry out an education, health and care needs assessment. This request can also be made by anyone who thinks an assessment may be necessary, for example, a school or nursery, teachers and doctors. Once the request is made the local authority has 6 weeks to provide a decision on whether to assess the child or young person.

If the local authority agrees to assess, during the assessment, the local authority must seek information on the child or young person’s needs, the provision required to meet those needs and the outcomes expected to be achieved by the child or young person. This information can be sought from the child or young person’s parent/carer, a headteacher, a health care professional, an educational psychologist, speech and language therapists or occupational therapists, and social care professionals.

Following the assessment, the local authority must provide a decision on whether they are going to issue the child or young person an EHC Plan. If the local authority agrees to issue a plan, a draft EHC Plan must be provided to the parent/carer or young person. The draft EHC Plan should be issued within 14 weeks from the request for an assessment, so that a finalised EHC plan can be issued by no later than 20 weeks from the date the needs assessment was requested. If the local authority refuses to assess or issue an EHC Plan, parents/carers or young person can appeal this decision to the SEND Tribunal.

Making sure your EHC Plan is strong

The wording in an EHC Plan is critical, particularly within section F. Any vague language weakens legal enforceability of special educational provision, so ensuring the wording in your child’s EHC Plan is precise and clear is vital. For example, case law confirms that wording like, “access to speech therapy as needed” is not acceptable. More suitable wording would be, “1 hour per week of individual direct occupational therapy input (38 hours per year) delivered by an HCPC registered occupational therapist with experience and postgraduate training in sensory integration”.

L v Clarke and Somerset County Council [1998] ELR 129 affirmed that the provision set out in an EHC Plan must be “so specific and so clear as to leave no room for doubt as to what has been decided necessary in the individual case”.

Challenging decisions

To make an appeal to the SEND Tribunal, the following decision has to have been made by the local authority:

• Refusal to arrange an EHC assessment
• Refusal to issue an EHC Plan following an EHC assessment
• Refusal to arrange an EHC reassessment
• The local authority decides to stop maintaining an EHC Plan
• The local authority decides not to amend the EHC Plam following an annual review
• Disagreement with the contents of a Final EHC Plan

A parent/carer or young person’s deadline to appeal is two months from the date of the letter from the local authority giving their final written decision. You do have the option to go to mediation before making an appeal. If you do not want to go to mediation, you have to obtain a mediation certificate before making an appeal. Once you have received your mediation certificate, you will then have an additional one month from the date of the mediation certificate to submit your appeal. If you are appealing about one or more of the educational elements of an EHC plan, you can also appeal against the sections that deal with health and social care.

Enforcing an EHC Plan

Once an EHC plan is finalised, the local authority has a legal obligation to ensure all the special educational provision within section F of that EHC plan is delivered. This is set out under Section 42 of the Children and Families Act 2014. If the local authority fails to implement the support set out in section F of the EHC plan, then this can be raised by contacting your SEN officer. If this is not effective, you can raise a complaint via your local authority’s complaint procedure. Following this, if your complaint is still unresolved, you can escalate your complaint to the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman. For any serious failures from the local authority, you may need to consider judicial review proceedings, where you may need to consult a solicitor.

Conclusion

EHC plans give children and young people enforceable rights in relation to their education; however, these rights can only be enforced if the system is properly understood. The best way to understand the system is to stay informed using helpful websites such as IPSEA.com, keep written records and seek advice early. It is important to remember that parents are their child’s best advocate, and the law is there to back you up.