Local authorities (LAs) have a legal duty to review and amend an education, health and care (EHC) plan before a child or young person transfers from one phase of education to another, following a legal process.

For a transfer from primary to secondary school, the annual review must be completed and, where necessary, EHC plan updated, by 15 February in the year of transfer.

For those transferring from secondary school to a post-16 institution, the EHC plan must be reviewed and amended by 31 March in the year of transfer.

These are long stop deadlines, and the duty to review (and where necessary amend) EHC plans, are set out in Regulation 18 of The Special Educational Needs and Disability Regulations 2014 They are strict legal deadlines and do not contain any exceptions.

However, the situation can be tricky if the first EHC plan is due to be (or has been issued) close to these deadlines.

Here we explain what the LA must do, and what you should do when you receive the draft EHC plan:

If Then
an LA issues a first EHC plan in a child's last year before a phase transfer well before the February 15/ March 31deadline, and it has only named a setting (or type) for the remainder of the current academic year

regulation 18 will apply.

The LA will be required to review (and if necessary amend) the newly issued EHC plan by the relevant legal deadline to name the setting, or type of setting, the child or young person will attend from the following September.

You can take action if your LA has missed, or is likely to miss, the deadline.
If Then
an LA is due to issue a first EHC plan in a child's last year before a phase transfer too close to the February 15/March 31 deadline to be able to lawfully review and amend the plan by the deadline

Parents and young people should make requests for a particular setting for both the current and next academic year when they receive the draft EHC plan.

The LA must name the:

  • current setting, or
  • the setting (or type) it is intended they attend until the end of the academic year, and
  • the name, or type, of setting the child or young person will attend from the following September

when it issues the final EHC plan.

If it does not name the setting (or type) for the next academic year in the new education phase, you can appeal (and mediate) this.

You should ask the SEND Tribunal to prioritise this appeal as an appeal involving Section I for a child or young person due to move to a new phase of education.
If  Then
an LA is due to issue a first EHC plan in a child's last year before a phase transfer after the February 15/ March 31 deadline 

regulation 18 won't apply as the deadlines referred to in that regulation will have passed by the time the plan is issued.

When making their placement requests, parents and young people in this situation should ask their LA to name:

  • the current setting, or
  • the setting (or type) they want the child or young person to attend until the end of the academic year), and
  • the setting they want the child or young person to attend from September

in the issued EHC plan.

If it does not name the setting (or type) for the next academic year in the new education phase, you  can appeal (and mediate) this. You should ask the SEND Tribunal to prioritise this appeal as an appeal involving Section I for a child or young person due to move to a new phase of education.