What is an annual review (AR) of an EHC plan
At least once a year (every 12 months) your Education, Health, and Care (EHC) plan must be reviewed to see if it is:
- Still required
- Needs updating (amending)
Find out more about EHC plan
Steps of the annual review process
Step 1: The council - known as the local authority (LA) sends a letter to your school letting them know that your EHC plan needs to be reviewed.
Step 2: Your school (usually the SENCo) must write to your parent/carer and other professionals in and outside of the school who may have been working with you. They will be asked to write a report about how you have been getting on at school, with the extra or different types of help you have got through the EHC plan.
Step 3: Your school must then invite everyone in step 2 plus someone form the local authority, usually the EHC co-ordinator (who is in charge of your EHC plan), to a meeting called the annual review meeting.
Your parent/carer’s and the professionals will receive copies of all the reports from step 2 before the annual review meeting, so they can read and comment on the following:
- How you have got on with meeting your outcomes (what you need to achieve) on the EHC plan
- Should the outcomes remain, be removed, or changed?
- Are your needs correct? If not, what needs to be tweaked, changed, or taken out?
- Is the provision (help you are getting) correct? If not, what needs to be tweaked, changed, or taken out
STEP 4: This is the actual annual review meeting.
What happens at the annual review meeting?
You, your parent/carer, SENCo and anyone else invited from step 2, will look at the needs, provision and outcomes written in your EHC plan, and decide whether these need to change based on the reports sent through for step 2.
It is important that you give your views at this meeting, on the following:
- What do you feel has gone well over the last year?
- What would you like to achieve in the following year
- Your thoughts about what you want to do for year 12 (if you are in year 9, 10, or 11)
You can give your views in a number of ways:
- In person at the meeting
- Record a video that can be presented at the meeting
- Speak with your subject teachers, parents/carer or us – we can support you to write down and give your views
You can share your views using the template letter below:
It doesn’t matter how your views are recorded, it is important that your voice and views are heard.
Step 5: After the meeting, the school must write a report of what was discussed at the meeting and attach all the reports gathered from step 2. The school will also include yours and your parents/carers’ views on the EHC plan. This report must then be sent to your EHC co-ordinator in the local authority, within two weeks of the meeting. If you are educated at home or not in school, the local authority writes the report.
Step 6: Your parent/carer will then get a letter from your EHC co-ordinator, explaining the following:
- Whether the EHC plan will stay the same
- If they are going to make some changes to your EHC plan. A copy of the EHC plan, (called a proposed amended EHC plan) with the changes will be sent to your parent/carer with the letter telling them of this decision
- If they are going to cease (end) the EHC plan - this means the EHC plan is no longer needed
Your parent/carer has 15 calendar days to give their thoughts on the changes.
This is an opportunity for you to give your thoughts on the changes too. A change to the EHC plan can also include a change to the name of your school too.
You can download a copy of our leaflet below:
How we can help
We can:
- Go through any questions you and your parents/carer have about the annual review steps
- Support you and your parent/carer to give your views during each step, including preparing and attending the annual review meeting
- We can advise your parent/carer of what to do if they do not agree with one of the decisions the LA has made following the annual review meeting
How to contact us
You can contact us by:
- Phone: Call or text our Children and Young People’s Officer on 07917 504 390
- Phone: Call our office Helpline Number on 020 8871 8065
- Email: wiass@wandsworth.gov.uk