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What should go into the EHC Plan

In this section find out what should go into an EHC plan.

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EHC Plans outline the provision required to meet a child or young person’s individual needs.

Learn more about EHC Plans

EHC Plans set good and relevant outcomes for a child or young person with SEND. It helps to identify barriers to learning and the support the young person requires for these. They also describe what the young person can do. They must be co-produced, positive and coherent. They also need to be concise and clear.

What should go into an EHC Plan

All the professionals who work with the young person should contribute to their EHC Plan. The EHC Plan should include:

  • The young person's health needs identified through the EHC needs assessment which relate to the child or young person's SEN. Some health care needs, such as routine dental health needs, are likely to be related.

  • What the young person needs because of these health needs. This includes any medication or other treatments.

  • The EHC plan must specify any social care needs identified through the EHC needs assessment which relate to the child or young person's SEN or which require provision for a child or young person under 18 under section 2 of the Chronically Sick and Disabled Persons Act 1970.

  • A range of outcomes over varying timescales, covering education, health and care as appropriate but recognising that it is the education and training outcomes only that will help determine when a plan is ceased for young people aged over 18. Therefore, for young people aged over 17, the EHC plan should identify clearly which outcomes are education and training outcomes.

  • Specific support for the young person's needs. These needs can be educational, social or emotional. Provision must be detailed and specific and should normally be quantified, for example, in terms of the type, hours and frequency of support and level of expertise, including where this support is secured through a Personal Budget.

  • Provision must be specified for each and every need specified in section B. It should be clear how the provision will support achievement of the outcomes.

  • Where health or social care provision educates or trains a child or young person, it must appear in this section.

The plan should specify:

  • Any appropriate facilities and equipment, staffing arrangements and curriculum.

  • Any appropriate modifications to the application of the National Curriculum, where relevant.

  • Any appropriate exclusions from the application of the National Curriculum or the course being studied in a post-16 setting, in detail, and the provision which it is proposed to substitute for any such exclusions in order to maintain a balanced and broadly based curriculum.

  • Where residential accommodation is appropriate, any health provision reasonably required by the learning difficulties or disabilities which result in the child or young person having SEN.

  • Any social care provision which must be made for a child or young person under 18 resulting from Section 2 of the Chronically Sick and Disabled Persons Act 1970 or by learning difficulties or disabilities which result in the child or young person having SEN.

  • When the EHC Plan will be reviewed.

Review of EHC plans

The EHC plan must meet the requirements of the Children and Families Act 2014. Each EHCP will be reviewed (commonly known as annual review) within 12 months from its first issuing or from the previous review meeting thereafter. For children under 5, this takes place every three to six months. This is where parents and carers are invited to find out about their young person's progress. It also provides an opportunity for them to contribute their views. Any changes to the EHC Plan are discussed at these meetings. Interim targets are reviewed, and new ones are set if needed.

The EHCP process

The EHCNA process

What is the EHCNA process?

What happens when I get an EHCNA?