What is an education, health, and care (EHC) plan?
An EHC plan is a legal document that describes your special educational needs, health and social care needs, and provisions (extra or different types of help) that you will need to meet your needs.
When is an EHC plan issued?
An EHC plan is issued following an EHC Needs Assessment and can only be issued if you are between 16 and 25 years old and attending a sixth form, college, or training setting.
An EHC plan cannot be issued if you are or going to be attending a university or on a higher education course in college, for example, Level 4 BTEC.
You can find out more about getting extra help if you're a student with a learning difficulty, health problem or disability (GOV.UK).
An EHC Needs Assessment is carried out by the council known as the local authority (LA).
Special educational needs (SEN) is when you find learning or being at sixth form or college a struggle compared to other students and need extra or different types of help for this.
Find out more information about EHC Needs Assessments.
What information must be in an EHC plan?
An EHC plan has to have 12 Sections (parts) that are clearly labelled.
These sections are:
- Section A: Yours and your parent/carer (if you agree for them to be included) views, your interests, and aspirations
- Section B: A description of your special educational needs (SEN)
- Section C: A description of your health (medical) needs related to your SEN
- Section D: A description of your social care needs (any difficulties you have outside of school) related to your SEN
- Section E: Outcomes - how the extra help will benefit you. These must be SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, time limited)
- Section F: The special educational provision (help) you will receive at sixth form or college to meet your needs in section B
- Section G: Health provision you will receive to meet your needs in Section C
- Sections HI AND HII: Social care provision you will receive to meet your needs in Section D
- Section I: The name of the education setting you will attend (usually your current sixth form, college, or training setting)
- Section J: Personal Budget Arrangements (this is when the LA agree to release some of the money that comes with your EHC plan to you and/or your parent/carer, to find a different way to deliver the support in your EHC plan)
- Section K: Advice and information(reports) that were collected during the EHC Needs Assessment. The information from these, is added into the relevant sections on your EHC plan
What happens when your parent/carer receive a draft EHC plan?
When you (your parent/carer, if you agree to it) receive the draft EHC Plan, you will be asked for your thoughts on it.
You (and your parent/carer, if you agree) will also receive a letter with the draft EHC Plan informing you, that you have 15 calendar days to:
- Make comments and amendments (changes) about what is written in draft EHC Plan
- Request a meeting with the local authority (Your EHC co-ordinator) to discuss the draft EHC Plan
- Request the name of your current sixth form, college, or training setting or a new one is named in the final EHC Plan
You will need to make sure that the EHC Plan contains all the necessary information about your needs and the help you require to meet your aspirations, by checking the following:
- Is everything in the right section?
- Has anything been left out or is incorrect?
- Is everything written about you clear? For example, if someone who has never met you, read your EHC Plan, would they know what your aspirations, needs and the help you require are?
Once your EHC co-ordinator receives your thoughts (views) on the draft EHC Plan, they will consider any amendments (changes) that you have asked for and will make them if they can see evidence for this, for example, in any of the professionals’ reports.
The local authority will also send a copy of your draft EHC Plan to the sixth form, college or training setting you have asked for, providing they are on a list of government approved sixth forms and colleges, that the law says can be named in your EHC Plan.
The local authority have to try and name setting you have asked for, unless the local authority can prove:
- The education setting is not suitable for your age and/or ability, or
- The type of help you need in the classroom may impact the learning of other students in the classroom at this setting, or
- The cost of the setting is too expensive for the local authority (compared to cheaper settings that can also meet all of your needs)
Once the sixth form, college or training setting have received a copy of your draft EHC Plan, they have 15 calendar days to say whether they can provide you with all the help outlined in your draft EHC plan or not.
This is an opportunity for you to have a look at the draft EHC Plan with your parent/carer or someone else, to make sure what is written about you is correct.
For a template to give your views on Section A, please see below or contact us, if you need support to look through your EHC plan and give your views on it:
Finalising the EHC plan
When you receive the final EHC Plan it should have the name of the sixth form, college, or training setting in Section I
You can download our leaflet on EHC Plans:
What next?
The final EHC Plan means that your current or new sixth form, college, or training setting, will give you the help written in the EHC Plan. The local authority must review your EHC Plan every year, to check if the help you are given is supporting you. This is referred to as an annual review of your EHC Plan.
You, your parent/carer, (if you agree for them to be involved) sixth form, college or training setting and other professionals will be part of this review. Find out more information about annual reviews of EHC Plans.
How we can help
We can help by:
- Going through any questions you and your parent/carer have about the EHC plan
- Support you and your parent/carer to give your views on the EHC plan
- Advising your parent/carer of their options when they are not in agreement with what is written in the EHC plan, including their Right of Appeal
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