If an EHC plan is ‘ceased’ this means the plan has stopped. This means all rights and duties under the EHC plan will fall away, and the plan will no longer have any effect.

Your local authority (LA) can consider ceasing to maintain (stopping) your child or young person’s EHC plan at any time.

There is a legal process your LA must follow if it is considering ceasing to maintain an EHC plan. After this, if your LA decides to cease to maintain your child or young person’s EHC plan it must send to you its decision in writing.

A cease to maintain decision does not take immediate effect and you have the right to mediation and/or appeal this decision in the SEND Tribunal. Your LA must give you enough time to appeal before stopping your child’s EHC plan.

It is important to know there are deadlines for bringing an appeal to the SEND Tribunal. We explain these in detail on our page containing general advice about appealing and in this section.

We have lots of information on our website about appeals generally, including how to make an appeal, what happens after you make your appeal, hearings, and where to get help.

Please see the sections below for more detailed information about this type of appeal.

Ceasing to maintain decisions: when they can be made and what it means

What you can appeal and when

Evidence

After the hearing