The annual review meeting for my child’s EHC plan has taken place and we want it to be changed. However, our local authority has said it only amends plans if significant changes are needed or if it is a phase transfer review. Is this right?

No. EHC plans by law must specify and set out a range of things including: 

• your child’s special educational needs (SEN) in Section B
• the special educational provision needed to meet those SEN in Section F, and
• the outcomes expected as a result of that provision in Section E. 

An EHC plan which does not properly set these matters out will not be lawfully drafted. 

The law is clear that: 

• EHC plans need to be specific and clear, the necessary level of detail in an EHC plan will depend on all the individual facts in a case, so local authorities (LAs) cannot use blanket policies saying they only amend plans in limited or certain situations
• where detail can be provided it should be and even if there is a need for flexibility (due to a child’s SEN), the duty to be specific remains, so LAs should not refuse to include detail where it is available
• EHC plans are free-standing legal documents setting out the LA’s duties. Parents and young people have the right to rely on what the plan says, so it needs to be clear,  and
• the LA must specify in Section F special educational provision for each and every SEN in Section B, so LAs must make sure that Section F is complete as well as being properly specified. 

The Code at paragraph 9.193 says that “EHC plans are not expected to be amended on a very frequent basis.” But this does not fully reflect the LA’s duty to specify (in other words, to be specific and clear). If an EHC plan does not properly specify the matters it is legally required to do so, then the EHC plan will not be lawfully drafted. The Code is also guidance, and where there is a difference between the law and guidance, then it is the law that must be followed. 

If when concluding the annual review your LA decides not to change the EHC plan, you can take action. 

You can request mediation as a legal right. This means you can require your LA to send a decision-maker to mediation and discuss its decision with you and an impartial mediator, as well as the changes you want made to the plan and why. You can ask for mediation about the contents of: 

1. Sections B, F and/or I (SEN, special educational provision and/or placement), and/ or
2. Sections C and/ or G (health care needs and/ or provision), and/ or
3. Sections D and/ or H (social care needs and/ or provision). 

If mediation doesn’t work or you don’t want to try it, you can appeal the LA’s decision not to change the EHC plan in the SEND Tribunal. You will be able to say what changes you want made to the plan, and why. The SEND Tribunal can consider making: 

1. an order for amendments to Sections B, F and/ or I
2. recommendations for Sections C, D, G, and/ or H, and
3. an order for any other changes the SEND Tribunal thinks are needed as a result of amendments to these sections (such as to Section E, to ensure the outcomes are in line with changes to Section F). 

The SEND Tribunal will be concerned only with the law, including the duty to specify. It will not take into account an LA’s policy or practice of only amending plans at specific times or only if a particular number or threshold of changes are needed. 

If the SEND Tribunal orders the LA to make changes to an EHC plan, even if it is only one change, the LA must comply and issue an amended EHC plan.