A good Education, Health and Care Plan (EHC) should be clear, concise, understandable and accessible to education providers and practitioners, as well as the parents, child or young person.
As Education Solicitors, we often see that EHC plans written by parents are too brief in the description of the child/young person’s Special Educational Needs (Section B), which impacts on the provision that’s then included to meet the Special Educational Needs (Section F). So, a good EHC plan should have an accurate and detailed description of the child/young person’s educational needs included in it.
For initial advice, get in touch with our Education Law Solicitors that specialise in SEN and ECH plans.
We're rated‘Excellent’Unfortunately, EHC plans often include provision in Section F that isn’t specific or detailed enough. Provision to meet the Special Educational Needs should be specific and detailed in Section F of the EHC plan, so it’s clear exactly what is being provided and where appropriate, by who and how often, to meet all the needs identified.
In a good EHC plan, Section F will be specified and detailed so it’s clear what provision the child/young person receives. If they don’t receive the provision detailed, a good EHC plan will assist in a legal challenge against this.
We’ve also seen EHC plans being issued wrongly, including educational needs in the description of health needs (Section C) and the provision to meet the need set out as health provision (Section G). An example of this is speech and language difficulties/provision, as the Courts have previously established speech and language therapy is an educational need and not a health need. A good EHC plan should therefore have this included in Sections B and F, to give parents a better level of legal protection to challenge it if it isn’t provided.
The Local Authority is legally required to conduct an Annual Review of your child’s EHCP, prior to their transfer to a new phase of education.
You might feel like you’ve spent you entire time at school working up to A-Level Results Day. You might feel like you’ve spent you entire time at school working up to A-Level Results Day.
Children can fall out of education for any number of reasons, and different circumstances call for different courses of action. But one thing is key - where a child is without education, time is of the essence.
EHC Plans should also include the type and name of the school that is suitable to meet the child/young person’s needs. An EHC plan will of course only be considered to be good if the child, parents and young people are satisfied that the school named is suitable to meet need.
What makes a good EHC plan varies for each child/young person depending on their individual needs. We recommend that legal advice is sought from an Education Law specialist whenever an EHC plan is received, so that specific legal advice can be given and assistance can be provided with any required appeal.
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