Education, Health and Care Plan Annual Review

The local authority has a legal duty to ensure that an EHC plan it maintains is reviewed at least every 12 months. When a new plan is issued the first review must take place within 12 months and all further reviews must be within 12 months of the last review.  

The local authority can delegate the task to a school or college to carry out the annual review on its behalf, but it is the local authority’s duty to make sure that the annual review takes place.  

There are a number of steps that should take place for an annual review and it is not just about the meeting that takes place to discuss the review of the EHC Plan.  

When your child is moving into Year 9 annual reviews must start to consider what provision will need to be made to help your child to prepare for when they become a young person, by developing skills and independence.  This is a legal duty and is set out in Sections 20(6) and Section 21(6) of the SEND Regulations 2014. You may find the information below helpful 

Annual reviews in Year 9 and beyond | (IPSEA) Independent Provider of Special Education Advice 

It is good practice to carry out any review of a child/young person’s needs and provision by using a person-centred approach. 

Person centred planning puts your child at the centre of the planning and any decisions that affect them. 

You can find out more in this video from the Council for Disabled Children (CDC):  

CDC video: https://youtu.be/q4w_bnGMHvQ 

Year 9 Annual Review Guide

If your child has an EHC plan and is due to move to a new phase of education there are legal requirements for the review of their EHC plan. A new phase of education could be if your child/young person is moving from:

• Nursery Primary School
• Infant to Junior School
• Primary to Middle School
• Primary to Secondary School.
• Secondary to Post 16 provision
• One Post 16 Provider to another

An annual review meeting to discuss the transfer to a new education setting must take place in time for changes to be made to the plan and to allow the local authority to consult with and name a school within the statutory timescales.

When a child or young person is moving from:

• Nursery to Primary School or Primary to Secondary school the local authority must name the school in the EHC Plan by 15th February in the year they will make the transfer to the new school or placement.
• Secondary to Post 16 college or placement must be named in the plan by 31st March in the year they will transfer to the new phase of education
• One Post 16 placement to another Post 16 provider the plan must be reviewed at least 5 months before they are due to move to the new placement.

This means that an annual review should take place in the autumn term before your child/young person is due to move to the new education setting.

You can find further information on what should happen when your child/young person is moving to a new stage of education through the links and documents below.

Moving to a new phase of education with an EHC Plan | (IPSEA) Independent Provider of Special Education Advice

Planning the move to a new school for children with SEND | (IPSEA) Independent Provider of Special Education Advice

Annual reviews in advance of a transfer between phases of education: Model letter 12 | (IPSEA) Independent Provider of Special Education Advice

SEND Guide Transitioning to Secondary School

Post 16 Transitions 

Annual Review 

The review is a 12-week process that looks at the plan, what progress has been made towards the outcomes and whether any additions or changes are needed. 

It is a way for you to raise any concerns or suggest changes if you are not happy with the content of the EHCP. It is also an opportunity to request the plan is changed or updated if you have some new relevant information from professionals involved that you would like to add into the plan or to update old advice. 

If you feel there has been a significant change that means the plan may need to be amended before the next scheduled review, you can ask for an early review by either speaking to the SENCO at the school or setting or contact your SEN Caseworker.  Template letter 5: asking for an early review of an EHC plan (ipsea.org.uk) (external link) 

Annual Review Process 

The following steps must take place in the annual review process: 

• The local authority must consult with you, and with the school or education placement if your child/young person is attending one, about the EHC plan. The local authority must take account of the views, wishes and feelings of you, your child/young person if they have provided them, and the school. 
• An annual review meeting must take place to discuss the EHC plan.
• Two weeks before the annual review meeting all information gathered from you as well as from professionals about the EHC plan must be shared with everyone who will be attending the meeting. This means that the school or local authority must send out requests for updated information well in advance of the annual review meeting. 
• After the annual review meeting a report of what happened must be written, in North Yorkshire this information is provided in an Annual Review document. This should be sent to everyone who went to the meeting or provided information to be discussed.
• After the meeting the local authority must review the EHC plan and consider any amendments or changes requested following the annual review meeting. The local authority must notify you of its decision within four weeks of the meeting.

There are only 3 decisions the local authority can make following an annual review. These are:   

1. To leave the EHC plan as it is and not make any changes or amendments. The local authority should normally advise you why they are not intending to change the plan. If the local authority does not give reasons, you can request them. 

2. To make changes to the EHC plan. If the local authority decides to amend or change the EHC plan it must send a copy of the proposed amendments at the same time as the decision letter and allow you a minimum of 15 days to make comments.

3. To end or cease the EHC plan, if the LA think it is no longer necessary for it to be in place 

A final EHC Plan must be issued as soon as is practicable and within 8 weeks of sending the draft EHC plan.  

If you are not happy with the decision the local authority makes about the EHC plan following an annual review, you will have the right to challenge the decision either through mediation or by appealing to the SEND Tribunal. You will have 2 months from the date on the decision letter that comes with the final EHC plan to start the process of challenging the decision.

Annual review | (IPSEA) Independent Provider of Special Education Advice 

Annual Review Checklist March 2024

You may want to take some time to prepare for the annual review meeting. The annual review is an opportunity for you to make sure that your child’s EHC plan is right for them. You may find that the plan is working well and may only need some small changes. However, it could be that you feel the school your child/young person is attending can no longer meet their needs and you are considering requesting a different school, or you have a lot of changes to be made to the EHC plan. 

Before the Annual Review meeting, think about: 

• Is there anyone who you would like to attend the meeting or to send a report? The school or local authority do not have to agree to invite anyone you ask them to, but they must consider your wishes, views and feelings, as well as those of your child.
• Do you have any new or updated reports you wish to share with the school and local authority? They may be from private professionals who work with your child or from people who see your child away from their education setting.  For instance, this could be a youth club leader or a sports coach.
• How can your child’s views be included in the review meeting? The local authority has a duty to consult your child and gather their views. Some children and young people may want to attend all or part of the meeting so they can give their views in person, but other children and young people may find this too difficult and would prefer to give their views in a different way. This could be through a short video clip/voice recording, drawings, writing down their views or talking to a trusted person to tell them what their feelings and views are.  
• Whether you feel it would be helpful for you to have support at the meeting, for instance someone could take notes on your behalf during the meeting. This could be a partner, friend, relative or someone from a local support organisation.

You will be asked by the local authority or the school/college which is organising the review meeting to provide your views in advance of the annual review meeting. The school often send you a form to complete and normally in North Yorkshire this is a blank version of Part A of the EHC plan. However, you can provide information in other ways should you want to.  

• When sharing your views, you may want to consider the following things: 
• How has the past year been? What has gone well and not so well for your child/young person in school/college?  
• Have any of the targets that were set for your child at their last review now been met?
• Is your child/young person making progress academically? 
• How is your child/young person getting on with others in school/college? 
• Have there been any difficulties or problems for your child/young person in school/college?  For example, 
  • has your child/young person’s behaviour changed in school or at home?
  • do you feel they are being bullied?
  • is your child/young person anxious about going to school or struggling to attend?
• Whether you have any questions you want to ask the school/college or local authority about the progress your child/young person is making or the support they are receiving in school?
• Looking through all the reports provided for the annual review meeting and consider if there is anything you want to discuss at the meeting. Consider if there are any new recommendations in these reports that you may want to add to the EHC plan. 
• Looking through all the different sections in your child/young person’s EHC plan to make sure the information is still correct or whether anything needs changing

What are the sections of an education health and care plan?

Section A – Child/young person’s and parents views

• This section cannot be appealed at the SEND Tribunal as this section are your views.

Section B – Description of your child/young person’s special educational needs and is divided into four main areas of need and can be appealed. 

• Are all your child’s current needs included in this section? 
• Does this section explain how your child learns and what they can and cannot do? 
• Does anything need adding? 

Section F – Description of the special educational provision your child/young person’s needs which are found under the outcomes (Section E) and can be appealed. 

• Does this section describe all the extra support and help your child needs in school?
• Is it clear exactly how much help should be given, how often and state who should provide it? 

Section I – Name of school/college.  This must be the nearest suitable school and can be appealed.

• Are you happy with the school or placement named in this section?
• Do you feel your child may need to go to a different school, college or education placement?
• Do you have a school or schools you wish the local authority to consult with? 

Section E – Outcomes. Long term 2 to 3 years or a key stage targets for your child/young person’s achievement and cannot be appealed.

• Is your child making progress towards the outcomes shown in the EHC plan?
• Do the outcomes need changing because they have been met or they are no longer appropriate?

Section J – This is when additional needs that cannot be provided at the school or college that is named in Section I. This cannot be appealed.

• Do you want to ask about a personal budget? You can find out more about personal budgets – what you can use them for and how you can request one in our section on Personal Budgets

Section K – these are all the professional reports and assessments which should be updated regularly where appropriate to reflect the needs and provision required.

Other sections – can be appealed but only when is an element of education.  Otherwise health and social care need to be challenged in a different way

• You may want to ask for changes to be made to other sections of the plan such as health or social care. You could ask for health or social care professionals to provide updated information on your child’s needs so it can be included in the Annual review process. 

Once you receive your draft EHCP after the review and if you disagree with the outcome decision of the review, you can firstly arrange to hold a meeting with the SEN Caseworker at the local authority to discuss the issues before the plan is finalised or if the plan has been finalised and you still disagree then you can appeal against it to the SEND tribunal.

You can find out more about reviews in this video from the Council for Disabled Children (CDC): 

What is an Annual Review? (councilfordisabledchildren.org.uk) 

Delivering Quality Annual Reviews | Council for Disabled Children – Online training programme for parents/carers and professionals involved in annual reviews.