Education Health Care Plans (EHCP) - frequently asked questions

What is an EHCP

An EHC plan describes your child’s educational, health and care needs, and the help they will get to achieve their ambitions.

It is a legal document written by the local authority for children and young people whose needs cannot be met by the support that is usually available at their school or college. The following video explains EHCP.

I am not certain that my child needs an EHCP

Most children with special educational needs will have their needs met through extra support provided by the education setting. This is known as SEN Support and can include a wide range of provision and interventions. You can read more about SEN Support in our web pages.

However, if an educational setting has exhausted all the possible support options and a child/young person is still not progressing as expected it might be appropriate to request an Education, Health and Care (EHC) needs assessment (the first stage)

The local authority will expect to see evidence of what, if any, progress has been made and that school that have done everything they can to help your child make progress.

If your young person with SEN is not in education but wants to be, requesting an EHC needs assessment may be an appropriate first step.