What are EHCPs (Education, Health and Care Plans)?

EHCP stands for Education, Health and Care Plan. It is also known as an EHC plan.

EHCPs are available for those up to the age of 25. They are for children and young

people who need more support than that which is available through SEN Support. To

attend a special needs school, an EHCP is required (although many learners with

EHCPs also attend mainstream schools).

 

An EHCP has three main purposes:

  1. To identify the educational, health and social needs of the child or young person;
  2. To set out the support that is needed to meet those needs;
  3. To describe the desired outcomes of the support given.

An EHCP is a legal document, and the Local Authority (LA) must provide the special

educational provision that it describes. If the provision cannot be provided within the

learner’s current school, then the LA is required to find a suitable placement elsewhere.

 

How can you get an EHCP for a child or young person?

To get an EHC plan, you must ask the LA for an EHC needs assessment. This request

is usually made by the SENCo, and should be done with the agreement of the learner

and their parents or carers where possible. Parents and other parties can also make the

request, as can the learner themselves if they are aged between 16 and 25.

Within 6 weeks, the LA must decide whether an EHC needs assessment is

needed.

 

When deciding about whether to carry out an EHC needs assessment, the LA

will expect to see evidence of the learner’s needs, and of the action already taken by

the school or setting as part of SEN Support.

 

The process from initial request of an EHC needs assessment to when the final EHC

plan is issued should take no more than 20 weeks. (There are some exemptions to this,

which are detailed in chapter 9 of the SEND Code of Practice.)