May 2021

We have recently been hearing from parents of children with EHC plans being asked to name a secondary school for their child at the annual review in year 5. Some parents have been told there will not then be another annual review in advance of the EHC plan being amended to name the secondary school.

Although there’s nothing to stop a parent giving an indication of the school(s) they would like at this stage, to comply with regulation 18 of the SEN and Disability Regulations 2014 the LA must review the EHC plan in the autumn term, or very early in the spring term, before issuing an amended plan.

Parents, carers or young people must be given at least 15 days to make representations about the content of the EHC plan (and proposed amendments) and request that a particular school/institution is named in the amended plan, before a final amended plan is issued.

NB, the same principle applies to children or young people moving between other phases of education and to young people moving from one post-16 institution to another post-16 institution.

For more information on this topic, you can also read our article on planning the move to a new school for children with SEND.