An A4 notebook with 'Plan' written on the cover.

An EHC plan is a written plan that says what extra help a child or young person needs at school or college. It tells people what support they should get to help them learn.

A man writing. Beside him is a clipboard with the the word assessment on it and ticks and crosses in boxes beside numbers.

Parents, carers, or a young person (if they are old enough) can ask the council to check if they need an EHC plan. The council looks at information about the person to decide if they should have one.

About Education, Health and Care (EHC) plans

Some children and young people with a learning disability need more support than their educational setting can provide with the resources they have. For example, some schools need some extra help from specialists like speech and language therapists and educational psychologists.

Some of this extra support may be provided through an Education, Health and Care plan, sometimes called an EHC plan or EHCP - and funded by your local authority .

An EHC plan sets out what help a child or young person needs while they're at school. This is known as a special educational need. An EHC plan will also outline any special educational provision that child might receive. Your local authority will need to assess your child to decide whether they need an EHC plan in place.

Learn about EHC plans

Watch Ryan Westwell, public law and human rights lawyer at Irwin Mitchell, explain more about what an Education, Health and Care (EHC) plan is, who can get one, and how.

Video Easy Read

Requesting an EHC assessment

You can ask your local authority to carry out an assessment if you think your child needs an EHC plan. A request can also be made by anyone else who thinks an assessment may be necessary, including doctors, health visitors, teachers, parents and family friends. A young person can also request an assessment themselves if they’re aged 16 to 25 years old.

When a local authority is requested to carry out an EHC needs assessment they must consider:

  • whether the child or young person has or may have special educational needs (SEN); and
  • whether they may need special educational provision to be made through an EHC plan.

If the answer to both of these questions is yes, they must carry out an EHC needs assessment under the Children and Families Act 2014 (section 36(8)).

The local authority will gather information about your child from a variety of sources, including you and your child. They will look at any:

  • evidence of the child or young person’s academic attainment (or developmental milestones in younger children) and rate of progress
  • information about the nature, extent and context of the child or young person’s special educational needs
  • evidence of the action already taken by the school or other setting
  • evidence that where progress has been made, it has only been as the result of much additional intervention and support over and above that which is usually provided
  • evidence of the child or young person’s physical, emotional and social development and health needs, drawing on relevant evidence from clinicians and other health professionals and what has been done to meet these by other agencies.

An EHC assessment will not always lead to an EHC plan. The local authority may decide that the school, college or other setting can meet your child’s needs with the resources they have, and that there is no need for an EHC plan.

EHC plans

If the EHC assessment shows that your child does need an EHC plan, your local authority will start drawing one up. This will involve looking at:

  • your child’s needs
  • the outcomes that the local authority and you and your child want to work towards
  • the support required to help achieve those outcomes.

Your child has a right to receive the support that is listed in their EHC plan.

In addition, the plan will state which nursery, school or college your child will go to. This should be decided by your family and agreed to by the nursery, school or college. If you don’t request a specific educational setting, your local authority will choose one. The assumption will be that this is a mainstream setting, rather than a special setting for children with disabilities.

The whole process, from requesting an EHC assessment to getting an EHC plan, should take no longer than 20 weeks. If you want to, you can ask for some of the support in the EHC plan to be bought as part of your child’s personal budget .

EHC plans should be reviewed at least once a year. If your child’s needs change substantially, the plan may need to be reassessed.

Your child's rights in education

Get the education your child deserves - know your rights

Challenging the support your child is getting

How to challenge an education setting or local authority about your child's support

SEN Support

SEN support is what schools use to find and meet the needs of children with special educational needs (SEN).

Questions and answers about education, health and care plans

You can do this at any time.

You can only ask for an EHC needs assessment if the child or young person has, or may have, SEN – it does not apply where there are only health or social care needs. Remember that under the law, a child has SEN if they have a learning disability which calls for special educational provision.

For children under 16, the parent makes the request. This includes children from age 0 to 5, where parents should make a request if they believe that the child will need extra help at nursery or when they start school.

In the case of a young person (over 16 and up to 25), they can make the request themselves. If the young person is not able to understand, remember, or communicate decisions about the educational support they need, their parent or carer can make the request on a young person’s behalf.

It can help to speak to the school or college about any concerns or worries you might have before writing to the local authority.

You should speak to the relevant teachers, the school special educational needs coordinator (sometimes called a SENCO) or the person who is responsible for SEN provision, and the headteacher.

You should make a request in writing and keep a copy of your letter or email. Your should explain why you believe your child has or may have special educational needs, and why you believe they may need special educational provision to be made through an EHC plan.

You should write to the local authority where you live - even if your child goes to school in a different local authority. You can find details of your local authority online.

Their website should give you details on how to make a request. If it is not clear, you should write to the most senior person at the local authority, usually the Director of Education or Head of Children’s Services. You can find out the name and contact details of the most senior officer on the local authority's website, by calling the local authority, or by asking at your child's school or college.

The local authority must reply to you within six weeks (this is required by regulation 4(1) of the Special Educational Needs and Disability Regulations 2014). They should always reply to you as a parent or young person – even where the request was made by the school or college.

If the they agree to carry out an assessment, various people will need to be approached for advice.

If they refuse to carry out an assessment, you have the right to appeal against this decision. The letter should explain that there is a right to appeal to the First-tier Tribunal (Special Educational Needs and Disability), and should provide details of a mediation service to contact.

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