What is an EHC Plan?

An Education, Health and Care plan (EHC plan or EHCP) 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 that is named in an EHC plan must be provided by the child or young person’s local authority (LA). It can also give parents and young people more choice about which school or other setting the child or young person can attend as special schools and private schools can also be named. In order to obtain an EHC plan, the child or young person must first have an Education, Health and Care Needs Assessment.

An Individual Healthcare Plan (IHP) is used in education to detail exactly what sort of care a child or young person needs at school or college if they have a medical condition. Individual healthcare plans are only needed for children or young people with complex medical needs, such as epilepsy.

If a child or young person with a medical condition’s learning and development are typical for their age, and their learning is not affected by a special educational need, then they may just need an IHP rather than an EHCP

The sections of an EHCP are:

• Section A: the views, interests and aspirations of the child and his parents or the young person
• Section B: the child or young person’s special educational needs
• Section C: health care needs which relate to their SEN
• Section D: social care needs which relate to their SEN or to a disability
• Section E: the outcomes sought for the child or young person
• Section F: the special educational provision required to meet their SEN
• Section G: any health care provision reasonably required by the learning difficulties or disabilities which result in the child or young person having SEN
• Section H: any social care provision required from social services
• Section I: the name of the school or other institution to be attended by the child or young person, and the type of that institution
• Section J: details of any direct payment which will be made
• Section K: copies of all of the advice and information obtained as part of the EHC needs assessment

The sections of an IHP may include:

• The individual’s diagnosis or medical condition
• Medical needs including symptoms, triggers, signs, treatment, equipment, devices
• Who is responsible for providing their support or care in school/college
• Medication: Dose, administration, side effects, who administered or supervised and the timings
• What to do in an emergency situation and what constitutes an emergency

• Staff training needs

An EHC plan is for children and young people aged up to 25 with a special educational needs and/or a disability (SEND) whose needs cannot be met by their local mainstream school or college.

If a child or young person’s learning and development are typical for their age, and their learning is not affected by a special educational need, then they may just need an Individual Education Plan (IEP) rather than an EHCP.  An IEP would be written and implemented by the school or college.

In order to have an EHCP, an individual needs to first have an Education, Health and Care needs assessment. This can be requested to your Local Authority by either yourself, a parent or school/college at any time.

An EHC Assessment seeks to gather information on an individual’s needs and is carried out by the LA.  A range of people should provide input, such as the young person themselves, their parents, their school or college, health professionals and social care teams. Then, the LA must decide if based on the EHC needs assessment, they will issue an EHC Plan. 

Before deciding to conduct an EHC Needs Assessment, the LA should look at what actions have already been taken by a school or college to meet the young person’s special education needs and what impact these have had on the young person’s academic attainment. They may also consider what support health professionals or other agencies have already given in relation to a young person’s physical, emotional and social development and health needs. If the LA decide not to carry out a needs assessment, but you, your parents or school/college believe that one is necessary as the individual has a special educational need, then this decision can be appealed. More information can be found in this SEND guide. 

As part of the needs assessment the LA must seek information from a number of people and this list of people is part of the Special Educational Needs and Disability Regulations Act 2014. The first on the list is: the child’s parent and/or the young person, where they can contribute themselves.

The EHCP is reviewed by the statutory process of Annual Reviews when all parties look to review and update the EHCP to statutory deadlines with emphasis on addressing Section E Outcomes.

The first review must be held within 12 months of the plan being issued, and then reviews should happen every 12months after the previous review.

If a young person has an EHC Plan, this does not mean that they will automatically be in education until they are 25. The EHC Plan is reviewed every 12 months and can be ceased to be maintained if

• The young person progress to a point where the plan is no longer required.
• They leave education for employment
• They decide they no longer wish to be in education
• The LA deem the young person to no longer have a special educational need
• The individual is no longer making progress against their EHCP outcomes.