When does a local authority have to issue an EHC plan?

On this page we explain when local authorities (LAs) must issue EHC plans for children and young people with special educational needs (SEN). We also explain what must happen if your LA says it will issue an EHC plan, and what action you can take if it refuses to issue an EHC plan.

An EHC plan sets out a child or young person’s education, health care and social care needs, and it can only be issued after an EHC needs assessment has been carried out.

When EHC plans must be issued

After all the information your LA is required to obtain as part of the EHC needs assessment has been gathered, your LA must decide whether this advice (taken all together) shows that it’s necessary for your child or young person to have an EHC plan.

The question your LA should ask itself is: “Will this child or young person get the special educational provision they need without an EHC plan?”. If the answer is no, they won’t, then an EHC plan is necessary.

For example, an EHC plan would be necessary where the advice gathered shows that your child’s special educational needs cannot (or won’t) be met through SEN Support. 

What happens if your LA says it will issue an EHC plan?

If it decides an EHC plan is necessary, then your LA must issue an EHC plan. This is set out in section 37(1) Children and Families Act 2014.

Before issuing a final EHC plan, your LA will send you a draft EHC plan. This is an important stage – you must be given at least 15 days to:

There is no deadline for the LA to send the draft plan. However, in order to meet the deadline to send the final plan (see below), it will need to send out the draft a maximum of 14 weeks from the date the assessment request was received (or the date the LA became responsible, if this is how the assessment was triggered).

Please read our what to do when you receive your draft EHC plan page for more information.

Your LA must send the final EHC plan to you within 20 weeks from the date the EHC needs assessment was requested. This is set out in SEND Regulation 13(2).

The only time the LA is legally allowed to miss this deadline is if meeting the deadline is impractical (so not reasonable or possible) due to:

  1. the LA requested advice as part of the EHC needs assessment from the nursery, school or college attended by your child or young person during a time when it was closed for a period of longer than 4 weeks (such as in the summer holidays), or in the week immediately before such a closure, and this delayed the process
  2. exceptional personal circumstances affected you or your child, or your young person, during that time period, or
  3. you or your child, or your young person, were absent from the LA’s area for a continuous period of not less than 4 weeks during that time period.

You will see these do not include staff shortages and we have information about staff shortages on our website.

You can find out more about what to do when you receive a final EHC plan on our website.

What you can do if your LA says it will not issue an EHC plan?

If your LA decides not to issue an EHC plan, it must tell you within 16 weeks of the date when the request for an EHC needs assessment was received (or the date the LA became responsible, if this is how the assessment was triggered), subject to the limited exceptions we explain above. This is set out in SEND Regulation 10(1). Again, staff shortages is not a lawful reason to miss this deadline.

If your LA makes this decision, you can appeal to the SEND Tribunal.  You also have the right to mediation.

Please see our appeals against a refusal to issue an EHC plan page and free downloadable information pack on that page for more information.

If you haven’t been able to find the answer to your question on this page, you may find it helpful to look at our FAQs or book an appointment to speak with us.

Manage Cookie Preferences