EHC Annual Review Toolkit for Parents and Carers

What is an Annual Review of an Education, Health and Care (EHC) plan?

If your child/young person has an EHC plan, it should be checked and (if necessary) updated, at least once a year. This is known as an annual review.

On rare occasions things change more quickly, and an interim or emergency review is needed. 

For young children (0-5 years) annual reviews must take place once per year. But it is recommended that they take place every 3-6 months as young children’s needs can change very quickly. 

The review of the plan looks at the progress made by the child or young person towards achieving their outcomes and longer-term aspirations. The review must consider whether the outcomes and supporting targets are still the right ones.

What do we mean by the word ‘outcomes?

Put simply, an outcome is the benefit or difference that we want to see in someone’s life when they are being supported. For more information see this explainer from the Council for Disabled Children: Outcomes explainer- for parent carers

The diagram  below shows the timeline for the annual review that schools/settings should follow. The LA in the diagram stands for Local Authority which in this case means the SEND Support, Assessment and Review Team.

Arranging the annual review of the EHC plan

The review will be set up by your child/young person’s school/setting (this can differ for post-16 institutions). They will invite all the professionals that work with your child/young person to update their reports and in some cases attend the review meeting. 

The Annual Review must be undertaken in partnership with the child/young person and their parent/carer. Or if the young person is age 16 or above, and has mental capacity, then the young person may wish to attend without parent/carers. For more information see IPSEA’s explanation of  Mental Capacity and Decision Making.

The review must take account of the child’s/young person’s views, wishes and feelings, including their right to request a Personal Budget.

What will happen when my child is moving between schools/settings?

An EHC plan must be reviewed and amended in sufficient time prior to a child or young person moving between key phases of education. This will give sufficient time to plan the move and ensure that any support needed in the new setting is arranged on time.

If moving from one school/setting to another, for example: 

• early years provider to school
• first school to middle school
• primary school to middle school
• primary school to secondary school, and
• middle school to secondary school.

Then you need to make sure that the SEND Support, Assessment and Review team know which school/setting you want for your child/young person by 31^st October. 

Then the Annual Review and any changes must be completed before 15^th February in the year of transfer.

Reviewing a plan prior to moving school/setting is very important as this will probably be the last opportunity to update the plan before they leave their current school/setting. 

Moving from Primary to Secondary school

The same timescales apply as above but it is very important that a secondary transfer review should be held by the Summer Term of Year 5.  

For year 11 leavers and those post-16, your preferred schools/settings need to be with the SEND team by 31^st December. 

The review must be completed before 31^st March in the year of transfer.