EHCP meaning: what an education, health and care plan is — and how to get one

EHCP stands for education, health and care plan — a legal document, issued by your local authority, that names the support a child or young person (0 to 25) must receive. The word that matters is legal: once provision is written in Section F of a plan, the council has a statutory duty to secure it. A school promise is not enforceable; Section F is.

Statutory framework: Children and Families Act 2014 + SEND Regulations 2014 + SEND Code of Practice 2015 · verified 03/08/2026

Who qualifies for an EHCP — the actual criteria

The legal test is lower than the council's letter implies. The council must carry out an EHC needs assessment where a child or young person has or may have special educational needs, and it may be necessary for support to be made through a plan (Children and Families Act 2014, section 36(8)). "May" — not "definitely will". You do not need a diagnosis first, the child does not need to be failing academically first, and the school does not need to have spent any set amount first. Those are common refusal reasons; none of them is the statutory test.

How to apply for an EHCP

1. Anyone with the right can request. A parent, the young person themselves (over 16), or the school can ask the council for an EHC needs assessment — in writing, to the council's SEND team. You do not need the school's permission, and a school "putting in the paperwork later" has no legal effect on your right to request now.
2. Say what the needs are and what they affect. Attach what you have — school reports, professional letters, your own dated notes. Missing evidence is the council's job to gather during assessment, not a reason to wait.
3. The 6-week clock starts on receipt. The council must tell you within 6 weeks whether it will assess — SEND Regulations 2014, regulation 5.
4. If it assesses, it gathers advice (education, health, social care, yours), then must tell you whether it will issue a plan. You get the draft plan and 15 days to comment and name a school.
5. The whole process has a 20-week legal maximum from your request to the final plan, extendable only in narrow specified circumstances — SEND Regulations 2014, regulation 13.

The EHCP timeline, week by week

Deadlines are from the SEND Regulations 2014. A council running past them is not "backlog you must accept" — the timescales are duties, and the Local Government Ombudsman routinely finds fault for missing them.

What happens in practice: the refusal numbers

Across England, councils refused an average of 26.4% of EHC needs assessment requests in the 2025 figures — in some areas over 60%. Yet the SEND Tribunal that hears an appeal is independent of the council and decides on the evidence in front of it. A refusal is a council decision, not a legal verdict. See your council's refusal rate — all 153 councils, ranked, or look yours up directly.

Personal budgets

Once a council confirms it will issue a plan (or at review), you can ask for a personal budget — an amount the council identifies to deliver parts of the provision, which can in some cases be paid directly to you to arrange it (Children and Families Act 2014, section 49). It is a right to request, not a right to receive — but the council must consider it and give reasons.

Re-assessment and reviews

A plan must be reviewed at least every 12 months, and you can request a full re-assessment where needs have changed. A refusal to re-assess, like the original decisions, carries a right of appeal to the SEND Tribunal. Where a school placement itself has become unworkable, the plan can instead deliver education outside any school — EOTAS, explained here.

If the council says no

Refused to assess, refused to issue, or issued a plan that is vague or names the wrong support? Each decision letter opens the same route: contact a mediation adviser (you need the certificate, not mediation itself), then appeal to the SEND Tribunal — within 2 months of the decision or 1 month from the mediation certificate, whichever is later. Our situation guides cover each refusal in the words the letters actually use: refused to assess · assessed but no plan · plan too vague.

Answer plain-English questions about the decision and your child, and get Tribunal-ready grounds in minutes — matched to the right HMCTS form, SEND35 or SEND35A.

EHCP questions, answered

Sources named above: SEND Code of Practice (Department for Education) · Children and Families Act 2014, Part 3 · DfE, Education, health and care plans (Explore Education Statistics)