Education Health and
Care Plan (EHCP)
What is an EHCP?
Schools in England are required to provide support to children with special educational needs (SEN) as part of their standard offer. This is known as SEN support.
When a child needs additional support that exceeds what a school, college, or nursery can typically provide from their own budgets or staffing, an Education Health and Care Plan (EHCP) may be necessary.
An EHCP is a legally binding document that outlines a child or young person’s special educational, health, and social care needs. The plan must list all the child’s special educational needs, the provisions required to meet each need, and ensure that these provisions are specific, detailed, and quantified. The plan also names the school or setting responsible for providing the specified support.
Who can get an EHCP?
Children or young people, aged up to 25, with special educational needs who require support beyond that which an educational setting can provide at SEN support need and EHCP. It is the EHCP that identifies what a child needs to be supported in an educational setting. A child who has educational needs may also have additional health and social care needs and those can be included in the plan so long as they relate to education.
Why is an EHCP necessary?
Special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) can affect a child or young person’s ability to learn. They can affect their:
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behaviour or ability to socialise, for example they struggle to make friends
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reading and writing, for example because they have dyslexia
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ability to understand things
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concentration levels, for example because they have attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)
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physical ability
Although the special educational needs support in schools and provisions can in the majority of cases meet children’s needs, sometimes a more detailed assessment will help the school to support your child more fully.
Getting an EHCP
The first step to applying for an EHCP is to talk to your nursery, school or college SENCo (Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator). Explain that you don’t feel your child’s needs are being met and you would like to start the process of applying for an EHCP.
Before requesting an assessment for an EHCP from the Local Authority (LA), your setting will put in place cycles of “Assess, Plan, Do, Review”, also know as the graduated approach.
Once this has been implemented, some children and young people will make progress and no longer require SEND support. Other pupils may well need continued support and start the cycle again. For those who have had numerous successive cycles but progress is still not being made, a request for an EHCP should be made.
“Until you have a child with additional needs, you have no idea of the depth of your strength, tenacity and resourcefulness”
