Education, Health and Care plans

What is an Education, Health and Care (EHC) plan?

Most children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) will have their needs met in local mainstream educational settings. Schools and other settings must try to meet the special educational needs of these children and young people.

At times, despite these efforts to identify, assess and meet the special educational need/s some children and young people may not make the progress expected. In these cases, schools or parents should consider requesting an EHC plan needs assessment.

This assessment involves a process of gathering information from the relevant people or agencies, including the views, interests and aspirations of the parents and child or young person. The needs assessment will help to determine whether we need to make additional provision through an EHC plan. When deciding whether to issue an EHC plan the local authority will take into account whether the needs of the child or young people can reasonably be met from resources normally available to settings.

An EHC needs assessment will not always lead to an EHC plan. However, it may help to inform how the education setting can meet the child or young person's needs without an EHC plan. It should not take more than 20 weeks from receiving a request for an assessment, to a final EHC plan being issued.

EHC plan video

The Council for Disabled Children has produced this animation to help explain the process.