We're appealing against the school named in our child’s EHC plan and we’ve been told our child must attend the school that’s named in the plan in the meantime. Is that correct?

No, this is wrong.

When a child or a young person has an EHC plan naming a setting (other than a private, fee paying school), then the setting has a legal duty to admit them (section 43 CFA 2014). Sometimes local authorities (LAs) believe this duty means that the child or young person must be added to the school roll as soon as the school is named in a plan.

Regulation 8(1) of the The School Attendance (Pupil Registration) (England) Regulations 2024 states that “The proprietor of a school must ensure that the name of each pupil at the school is entered in the school’s admission register on the pupil’s starting day, before or at the beginning of the first school session on that day”.

Regulation 3 defines ‘starting day’ as the first day the pupil attends, or the day it is agreed they will start to attend. The regulations say it’s the "person with control of the pupil's attendance" who has to agree the day that they will start attending the school. In most cases this is their parent or the pupil themselves if they will be over compulsory school age by the time they start attending the school, not the LA.

Therefore your child must only be added to the new school roll on the date they begin to attend or the date that you have agreed they will start to attend.

If you have been told your child must attend the named school but do not agree with the naming of that school, you should make this clear and that your child’s name must not be added to the admission register as you do not agree to it.

Please note: If at any point the LA says it will send you an Attendance Order, or you receive one, you can check if you qualify for legal aid and speak with a criminal solicitor who is familiar with education cases, and ask them if to find out if you would qualify for can apply for criminal legal aid. You could also contact Citizens Advice. 

We suggest you take advice on how education may be provided to your child while your disagreement with the LA about which school should be named in their EHC plan is resolved and who would be responsible for this. If your child is of compulsory school age, depending on your specific circumstances, it could be your responsibility to secure their education during this time.