Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCP)

An Education, Health, and Care Plan (EHCP) is a legal document for a child or young person aged zero to 25 years, which sets out their special educational, health and social care needs and how those needs should be met.

An EHCP focuses on what is important to a child or young person and uses information provided from a range of practitioners and agencies such as schools, educational psychologists, health practitioners, and local authority services such as the Family Service, Children's Social Care and Adult Social Care and Health to clearly outline:

the needs of the child or young person
how their needs should be met
who should be responsible for meeting them.

The EHCP will outline any specialist support required to help the child or young person to achieve outcomes in line with their aspirations and assessed education, health and social care needs.

How are EHCPs initiated?

Most children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities have their needs met in mainstream settings using resources that are available without the need for an EHCP. However, where a child or young person requires additional support that goes beyond what a provision can typically provide then an Education, Health and Care needs assessment may be appropriate.

The request for an Education, Health and Care Needs assessment can be made to Nottinghamshire County Council by a parent, carer, young person (if they are aged 16+ years) or educational professional, if they feel an assessment may be needed.

The Education, Health and Care Assessment Team are responsible for overseeing Education, Health and Care assessments, plans, and annual reviews of these plans.

How is a decision made on whether an EHCP is required?

A panel of professionals from a range of services which can include education, health, and social care, meet to read the information and reports that have been gathered during the assessment process to discuss:

the child or young person's special educational needs
whether the current provision is working
whether the child or young person is making enough progress
whether the child or young person needs something different or extra than what could reasonably be provided from within the resources normally available to mainstream settings.

Once all the information has been considered and a decision made, the family will receive a letter informing them of the outcome.

If the decision is 'no to plan' or not to proceed with an EHCP, clear reasoning for this will be explained. The family may be signposted to alternative support services. If a parent or carer are not pleased with the outcome of the decision, they have a right to appeal. Further information about disagreements and complaints can be found on the Notts Help Yourself website.

If the decision is 'yes to plan', a draft plan will be created and made available to parents, carers, and/or the young person and professionals involved. There will be a 15 day period where the views of others are sought on the draft plan, which will then be considered when creating the final EHCP.

The final plan will be sent to the parents, carers, or young person, by the local authority. The statutory timescale for this is within 20 weeks from the date that the assessment was requested.

How often are EHCPs reviewed?

Plans are reviewed every 12 months and at least six-monthly for children under statutory school age i.e. under five years of age. From Year 9 onwards, there must be a focus on developing independence and life skills within plans.