Guide · England
What is an EHC plan?
The plain-English primer: what the plan is, who it is for, what is in it, and why the wording matters.
In one sentence
An Education, Health and Care plan is a legal document, issued by your local council, that sets out your child's special educational needs and the support the council must provide to meet them. It runs from birth to 25 and is reviewed at least once a year.
Who it is for
Children and young people whose special educational needs cannot be met by the support a mainstream school normally provides. Most children with SEN do not need a plan; the school supports them itself. A plan is for the ones who need more than that, and it is the only way to make support legally enforceable.
How you get one
Someone asks the council for an EHC needs assessment: you, the school, or another professional. The council has 6 weeks to say whether it will assess. If it does, it gathers advice from an educational psychologist and others, then either issues a draft plan or tells you it will not. From request to final plan should take no more than 20 weeks. Councils refuse to assess in about a third of cases, and parents can appeal.
What is in it
The plan is split into lettered sections. A: your child's and your views. B: the special educational needs. C and D: health and social care needs. E: the outcomes the support should achieve. F: the special educational provision, meaning the actual support. G and H: health and social care provision. I: the school or setting named. J: a personal budget if there is one. K: the advice and reports it was based on.
Why Section F matters most
Section F is the part the council is legally bound to deliver. If it says 'weekly 45-minute sessions with a speech and language therapist', your child must get them, whatever the school's budget. If it says 'access to speech and language therapy as appropriate', it commits the council to nothing. The Code of Practice requires provision to be detailed, specific and normally quantified. Most fights over a plan are fights about the wording of Section F.
Who is involved
The local authority (the council) decides and pays. The school or setting delivers most of the provision day to day; its SENCO coordinates it. An educational psychologist and other professionals write the advice the plan is built on. You have a legal right to be involved at every stage, to comment on the draft, to name a school, and to appeal.
What can go wrong
Deadlines slip and nobody tells you. Needs identified in the reports are left out of Section B. Provision is written vaguely so it cannot be enforced. The wrong school is named. Provision in a final plan is quietly not delivered. Each of these has a rule against it and a route to challenge it, and each is what Notedly is built to catch.
The appeal
If the council refuses to assess, refuses to issue a plan, or issues a plan you disagree with, you can appeal to the SEND Tribunal, an independent court. You usually have to contact a mediation adviser first and get a certificate; you do not have to mediate. Around 99 in 100 appeals that reach a hearing are decided in the parent's favour.
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