What is an EHCP?
EHCP stands for Education, Health and Care Plan. To have an EHCP, the child must have special educational needs. They don’t need to have health and social care needs, but if they do, these should be included in the EHCP.
An EHCP sets out what a child needs to have in place in order to be supported, included, and achieve their full potential in school. It clarifies the school’s responsibilities, and once it’s been agreed upon, it is a legally binding document. If you are applying for a specialist rather than a mainstream setting, you need to have an EHCP in place.
Every child with SEN (Special Educational Needs) should have an Individual Education Plan (IEP) whether or not they have an EHCP.
The IEP is for short-term targets, e.g. half-termly or termly, while an EHCP is a more long-term plan. The EHCP includes 4 or 5 ‘outcomes’, which are targets that the people involved agree are outcomes that should be worked towards for that child; these could be in numeracy, literacy, self-care, social skills, communication, etc. Underneath each outcome is ‘provision’, which is what needs to happen for that outcome to be met. This can be very specific or more general.
EHCPs are overseen by SENSAP (Special Educational Needs Statutory Assessment & Planning team). A child’s EHCP should be reviewed every year but it doesn’t have to change every year. Schools or settings often take the lead in undertaking the review meeting, and any amendments are sent back to SENSAP, who will decide if the plan should be amended.
The Special Educational Needs and Disabilities Information Advice and Support Services (SENDIASS) in Leeds have information about the EHCP process here: https://sendiass.leeds.gov.uk/children-and-young-people/help-at-school-or-college/applying-for-an-ehcp
Applying for an EHCP
It is a 20-week process from initial application to getting the EHCP. The request for an EHCP can come from the parent or carer or the setting the child is in. There are two forms to complete for the application; one is completed by the parent or carer (EHC2), and the other by the setting (EHC1). While you don’t have to complete both, it is better to do so. The SENCO usually completes the school’s application form with support from the child’s class teacher and TA.
The more information you can put into your initial form, the better. Also, include any letters and reports you have from other professionals or agencies working with you and your child, e.g., Speech & Language, Deaf & Hearing Impaired Team, physiotherapy, occupational therapy, cardiology, respiratory, or feeding clinics. You can’t include too much evidence and supporting information!
You may have heard of or experienced requests for EHCPs being refused on the grounds that the child’s needs are being met, so there is no reason for one. However, in the SEN code of practice one reason to assess for EHCP is that needs are being met because there is a significant amount of support being given. Your child may be making progress, but it is important to explain this is only because of the significant amount of support that is in place, and that this level of support will continue to be needed.
Children with Down syndrome will always need a significant level of support, and it is likely to increase as they get older in terms of differentiation from the rest of the class. Therefore, it is important to emphasise in your application that this isn’t something temporary; Down syndrome is a lifelong condition and everything isn’t going to become level simply because the child’s needs are being met.
Once you request an assessment, the local authority has six weeks to decide whether to proceed with an assessment. You should be contacted by your casework officer, who is your link and contact with the SENSAP team. They should contact you regarding your request for an assessment and keep you informed of what’s happening. Unfortunately, they are currently* massively under-resourced and under pressure, so things aren’t necessarily happening as they should. It may be necessary to do some chasing up!
*As of March 2025.
There is a panel that has a Decision to Assess (DAP) meeting. In this meeting, they review all of the applications for an EHCP assessment. Based on the EHC forms and supporting evidence, they decide whether an assessment is appropriate. You will be informed, usually by letter, of the outcome of this panel meeting.
If an assessment is agreed upon, an educational psychologist will meet with your child and write a report. This is important and holds a lot of weight in making the plan. You should always have an opportunity to speak or meet with the educational psychologist to share your views, too.
You should get a draft of the plan within 16 weeks of requesting an assessment. You can then read through that plan and will then be invited to a ‘Next Steps’ meeting, involving you, the casework officer, school, and possibly other professionals. The purpose of this is to go through the plan in detail and check everything’s right.
An organisation called SENDIASS (Special Educational Needs and Disabilities Information Advice and Support Services) are there to work in partnership with parents if there are difficulties in assessing. They are a good team to contact if you’re struggling with the process.
Funding
In Leeds, the EHCP process is separate from the funding schools receive to support children with special educational needs, which is called Early Years Funding for Inclusion (EYFFI) and Funding for Inclusion (FFI).
Every setting has a legal duty to make reasonable adjustments to support a child with SEN. Every school has a notional budget, and before they apply for any other funding, they should use £6,000 of this to support any child with SEN. For example, a school might buy in Speech & Language therapy privately. If a child needs 1:1 support, the school will need to apply for FFI (Funding For Inclusion). FFI has very clear criteria on how to access the funding. An EHCP can be helpful in this process here as it outlines that the child has significant needs. In a private nursery, the SENIT (Special Educational Needs and Inclusion Team) have to request FFI but schools can request it themselves.
