Once a final Education, Health and Care (“EHC”) plan has been produced, the child or young person is legally entitled to the special educational provision set out in that plan.

The LA must first have issued a draft EHC plan and consulted with the parent or the young person about its contents. If the parent or young person requested that a particular school, college or other institution was named in the EHC plan, the LA should have consulted with that institution (unless the request was for a wholly independent setting – if you’re not sure, check the section about different types of school).

The final EHC plan must be issued within a maximum of 20 weeks from the request for an EHC needs assessment. If the LA do not send you the final EHC plan within this time frame, you can use our model letter to complain.

A final EHC plan will name the type of school, college or other institution the child or young person will attend, and it will normally also have the name of a particular school or college. If a school, college or other institution is named in an EHC plan, it must admit the child or young person and put the educational provision in the EHC plan into place. This is true even if the school or college argued at the stage the draft EHC plan was issued that the child or young person should not be placed with them.

When a final EHC plan is issued the parent or young person has a right of appeal to the First-tier Tribunal (Special Educational Needs and Disability) (the “SEND Tribunal”) if they are unhappy about any of the following:

• the description of a child or young person’s special educational needs;
• the special educational provision specified in the EHC plan; and/or
• the name/type of school or college in the EHC plan or the fact that no school/college is named.

All of these elements can be appealed either together or on their own.

Parents and young people can also pursue mediation as a way of resolving disagreements about any of the sections of the EHC plan (not just those listed above).

From April 2018, parents or young people will also be able to appeal the sections of the EHC plan which deal with health and social care. Changes can also be agreed to the health or social care parts of the EHC plan through mediation. You can read more about how to challenge the health and social care parts of an EHC plan in the guidance issued by the SEND Tribunal.

Go to the section of the site about appealing the SEND Tribunal for more information.

 

If you haven’t been able to find the answer to your question on this page, see our FAQs.

Complaining when a local authority does not send a draft or final Education, Health and Care Plan on time: Model letter 10