Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCP)

What is an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP)?

An Education, Health and Care (EHC) plan is a legal document that describes a child or young person’s special educational, health and social care needs. It explains the extra help that will meet those needs and how that help will support the child or young person to achieve what they want to in their life.

What is an Education, Health and Care Plan Assessment?

An EHC needs assessment is a detailed look at a child’s special educational needs (SEN) and the support he or she may need in order to learn.

Local authorities are responsible for carrying out EHC needs assessments under the Children and Families Act 2014.

The needs assessment brings together information about:

• what your child can and cannot do
• the special help they need

It includes information from:

• you
• your child
• the early years’ setting or school
• other professionals who work with or support your child

Who needs an Education Health and Care Plan?

The school or early years setting can often give your child help through SEND Support in Schools and Pre-Schools – WNC. This means that the school makes additional or different provision to meet their needs. Sometimes other professionals will give advice or support to help your child learn.

Some children need more intensive and specialist help. If your child does not make progress despite the SEN support an EHC needs assessment might be the next step.

The  SEND Code of Practice  says:

In considering whether an EHC needs assessment is necessary, the local authority should consider whether there is evidence that despite the early years provider, school or post-16 institution having taken relevant and purposeful action to identify, assess and meet the special educational needs of the child or young person, the child or young person has not made expected progress.

 The local authority will look at:

• your child’s attainments and rate of progress
• their special educational needs
• what has already been done
• the difference that support has made
• your child’s physical, emotional and social development and health needs

The SEND Code of Practice says:

 A local authority must conduct an assessment of education, health and care needs when it considers that it may be necessary for special educational provision to be made for the child or young person in accordance with an EHC plan.

Some children and young people will have needs that clearly require an EHC needs assessment and EHC plan. Once the local authority is aware that this is the case it should start the process without delay.

You can find out more about the criteria that local authorities should follow in the SEND Code of Practice sections 9.3 and 9.14 to 9.16.

Although an EHC plan can include health or social care needs, your child will not get a plan if they only have health or social care needs that do not affect their education.

An EHC plan can be issued to a child or young person between the ages of 0 and 25 years.

How do I get an EHCP?

As a parent you can request an EHCP Needs Assessment (sometimes called a Statutory Assessment), or your childs’ nursery, school or college or your child, if over 16, can make the request. It is always a good idea to talk to the school or early years setting before asking for an EHC needs assessment. 

We can help you make your request.

Assessing a child’s special educational needs – WNC

Nursery, school and other people, such as your doctor or a health visitor, can tell the local authority that they think your child needs an assessment.  They should inform you that they will be making the request.

If the local authority agrees to assess, the assessment will determine whether your child needs an EHC plan and, if so, the support within it.

The EHCP Process

In order to get an EHC Plan the Local Authority (LA) must carry out an EHC needs assessment.  The process will take up to 20 weeks from when the LA receives the request for assessment.

What is included in an EHC Plan?

The SEND Code of Practice says that EHC plans should:

• be based on decisions made openly, and with parents, children and young people
• describe what the child or young person can do
• be clear, concise, understandable and accessible
• consider how best to achieve the outcomes for the child or young person. They must take into account the evidence from the EHC needs assessment
• specify clear outcomes
• consider alternative ways of providing support if a parent or young person wishes it. This could include having a Personal Budget
• show how education, health and care provision will be co-ordinated
• be forward looking – for example, anticipating, planning and commissioning for important transition points in a child or young person’s life
• describe how informal support as well as formal support from statutory agencies can help in achieving agreed outcomes
• have a review date

There is a full list of principles and requirements in the SEND Code of Practice section 9.61.

Every EHC plan must include at least 12 sections, but each local authority can decide how to set these out.

The sections are:

Please note:

It can help to understand that there are three sections on needs (i.e. your child’s difficulties); these correspond to three sections on provision (the help your child will get) to meet those needs:

• “Section B: Special educational needs” corresponds to “Section F: special educational provision”.
• “Section C: Health care needs” corresponds to”Section G: health care provision”.
• “Section D: Social care needs” corresponds to”Section H: social care provision”.

Where the child or young person is in or beyond year 9, the EHC plan must also include the provision required by your child or young person to help prepare for adulthood and independent living.

You can read the full list of what must be included in each section in the SEND Code of Practice sections 9.62 and 9.63.

You can find a detailed checklist covering each of these sections at IPSEA EHC plan checklist.​

Personal Budgets 

​For those children and young people who have an EHC plan the LA can be required to identify a personal budget. This is the notional amount of money needed to make any of the special educational provision for them as specified in their EHC plan. 

Parents or young people can also request that an LA consider making a direct payment to them in lieu of special educational provision so that they can arrange it themselves. This will be an actual payment of money instead of the LA arranging for the provision to be delivered. 

A request for the LA to identify a personal budget or consider making a direct payment can be made at two specific times. First when a child or young person is undergoing an EHC needs assessment or secondly when the EHC plan is being reviewed. Information about the availability of personal budgets must be contained in the Local Offer – WNC .   

Where the provision proposed to be replaced by a direct payment takes place in a school or college setting, the consent of the head teacher or principal of the named school or other institution is required. 

Detailed information about direct payments and personal budgets is contained in the SEN and Disability Code of Practice 2015 (Chapter 9) and in a set of regulations which specifically apply to direct payments and personal budgets, The Special Educational Needs (Personal Budgets) Regulations 2014.