Education Health and Care Plans

Education Health and Care (EHC) plans are replacing Statements of Special Educational Needs and Learning Difficulties Assessments.

 

Our glossary explains some of the terms and abbreviations used in EHC plans and the Local Offer: PDFGlossary of terms [PDF 95KB] .

 

SEND High Needs Review – Special Provision Plan

In March 2017, the Government requested all local authorities carry out a review of their Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) high needs provision and produce a plan on how they will work to address the priorities.

For more details on the review, please read: PDFHigh Needs Review: Special provision plan [PDF 13KB] .

For more details on the consultation undertaken in Calderdale, please read: PDFHigh Needs Review: Consultation [PDF 72KB] .

 

The EHC plan

The EHC plan allows for different services to work together. It identifies the best way to meet the needs of children or young people.

The plans detail the child or young person's story in relation to their education, health and care needs. It is a positive document highlighting the child or young person's strengths and abilities, and should be read with the overview which provides guidance on the various sections of the plan:

 

The plan is developed with children, young people and their families, and can support young people potentially up to the age of 25 if they have educational outcomes to achieve.

Two new animations for parents are available to view. They help to explain the EHCP process and its important relationship with the Person Centred Connection, visit: EHCP process animations .

An EHC Plan is reviewed every 12 months (or six monthly if your child is under five years old) based around an annual review meeting. The review will:

  • involve the child/young person, parents/carers, the setting/school and any other agencies involved (e.g. Family Support worker, health worker, careers adviser);
  • discuss progress towards the outcomes and will check that the resources identified in the Plan are still relevant and make recommendations to the authority SEN Team for amendments, if required;
  • set new short-term outcomes for the following year, based on the plan;
  • focus on preparing young people for life as an independent adult, from Year 9 onwards.

 

Settings / schools are responsible for:

  • co-ordinating the yearly review meeting;
  • making sure that all involved are invited;
  • preparing the review 'paperwork', in advance.

 

Children / young people and parents / carers will always be asked to contribute a ‘report’ by the school before the meeting. The setting/school will circulate all review documentation two weeks in advance of the meeting. This is to allow all involved to properly prepare for the meeting. Review meetings are co-ordinated and facilitated by the setting/school and should be structured to allow all involved to contribute. It is expected that all children/young people will take part in a meaningful fashion, usually attending the meeting in some form.

At the meeting actions and recommendations are outlined and included in final review documentation by the setting/school and forwarded to the authority SEN Team. The SEN Team will then conclude the annual review process and inform parents/young people of any proposed changes to the EHC Plan.

Importantly, settings / schools will also regularly review progress against agreed actions and outcomes. This is through termly meetings in the setting / school, allowing all involved to work together in partnership.

Visit: Council for disabled children for more on the Education, Health and Social Care plans.

For more detail on the EHC Plan Annual Review process,contact:

Parents and young people can also contact SENDIASS for support around the EHC Plan annual review process.

 

Youth Custody

There is a plan in place for children and young people aged 18 or under, who have been detained in youth custody. This is a statutory requirement from April 2015. The plan includes contact details and frequently asked questions on pages 5 and 6:

 

Education Health and Care transfer plan: March 28th 2018 update

Following the introduction of the Children and Families Act 2014, all existing Statements of Special Educational Needs (SEN) must transfer to an Education, Health and Care (EHC) Plan, where one is needed, before the 31st March 2018. 

Statements will continue to have legal force until they are transferred to a new EHC Plan.

Calderdale is completing the EHC Transfer process for all Statements.

In the event that Calderdale has not transferred all Statements to EHC Plans, where one is needed, the authority will ensure that the EHC transfer process is concluded as quickly as possible. The existing Statement will continue in place under the Education Act 1996, as set out in the Transition Regulations SI 2014/2270. No child or young person will lose support or be disadvantaged. Provision and placement set out in the Statement of SEN will continue to be made. 

Where a child or young person with an existing Statement of SEN for whom the transfer process has not been completed moves into the Calderdale area the authority will discuss the transfer with parents and bring forward the annual review of the Statement within six weeks of the date from which Calderdale took responsibility for the Statement, as governed by the SEN Code of Practice 2001, paragraph 8:115. 

Moving out of / into Calderdale

If you are moving to another local authority, the SEN team will transfer your EHC plan to the new local authority.

The new authority will be responsible for managing the EHC plan and for securing the special educational provision it details. They must also review the plan before one of two deadlines whichever is the latter:

  • within 12 months of the plan being made, or being previously reviewed by Calderdale Council, or
  • within 3 months of the plan being transferred.

If you are moving into Calderdale, your current local authority SEN team will transfer your EHC plan to Calderdale Council, who will be responsible for managing your plan, and securing the special educational provision it details.

Full details on either process can be found in the SEND code of practice: 0 to 25 years (page 192, paragraphs 9.157 to 9.162). For more details, contact: SEND support .

 

Personal budgets

All families whose child has an EHC plan will have a right to request a personal budget. A Personal Budget is a sum of money that may be available for children and young people who need extra help, above that available to most children and young people through universal and targeted services.

Parents or young people will be given a choice of whether they want to take control of the personal budget by an agency managing the funds on their behalf or by receiving direct payments, where they can purchase and manage the provision themselves, or by using a combination of both approaches. Page 25 of the Special Educational Needs and Disability: a guide for parents and carers, from the Department for Education, provides more detail: SEND: guide for parents and carers .

For more details on how the decision process works, read:

SEND Information Advice and Support Service or Calderdale Parents and Carers can help you with the process: Support for parents, carers and young people .

 

Personal health budgets

Anyone receiving NHS continuing healthcare has the right to a personal health budget. This is an amount of money to support a person's identified health and wellbeing needs, planned and agreed between the person and their local NHS team. It will give people with long-term conditions and disabilities a greater choice, flexibility and control over the healthcare and support they receive, see: Personal Health Budgets .

 

Resolving disagreements

Parents and young people have the opportunity to go to mediation before they can register an appeal with the First-tier Tribunal.

Wherever possible Calderdale Council and / or Health Commissioners will try and resolve issues or areas of disagreement by meeting and talking with those involved in supporting children and young people with special educational needs and / or disabilities. This includes not only the parents and carers, but also the children and young people themselves.

It isn't always possible to reach a resolution without the help of a neutral third party. Mediation services are available in Calderdale and are delivered by Collis Mediation. They offer a variety of effective mediation services for people in dispute using trained and experienced mediators. They work hard to make sure that the parties are as comfortable as possible during the process and that final agreements meet the needs of both parties.

For more on this, contact: SEND support .

 

Advocacy support

Young people over compulsory school age have new rights. Where there is a conflict of interests between the young person and the parent(s) during assessments / reviews of Education Health and Care plans, it is the view of the young person that prevails. Some young people will require the support of a skilled advocate to ensure their views are heard and acknowledged.

In Calderdale, advocacy support is provided by the The Children's Rights, Advocacy and Visitor Service, or the Independent Support Coordinators who are part of the SEND Information, Advice and Support Service, see: Getting independent advice .

 

The Children's Rights, Advocacy and Visitor Service

This service provides advocacy support for young people, who are over compulsory school age, during the assessment and / or review process for an Education Health and Care plan.

If you are a young person, advocacy can support you if you feel that people are making decisions about you without listening to what you have to say.

Advocacy can:

  • help your voice be heard;
  • make sure that you are being treated fairly;
  • support you in meetings;
  • support you to have your say about things that affect you;
  • help you understand what is happening and why;
  • help you make a complaint;
  • help you speak out for yourself.

 

For more details, contact:

 

Other links that can be useful: