Education, Health & Care Plans

Everything EHCP's

 

 

What is an EHC needs assessment

An EHC needs assessment is thorough assessment, in order to find out exactly what support you might need.

Your School/College are often able to meet your needs, however; if you feel you need additional support from what is available, you can request for an assessment. 

For further information about what happens in an EHC Assessment, you can visit IPSEA's website on the link below:

 

Requesting an EHC Needs Assessment

You can ask your local authority to carry out an Education Health & Care Needs Assessment if you think you require an Education, Health & Care Plan (EHCP). 

If you wish to make a request for an Education Health & Care Needs Assessment (EHCNA), please click on the following: 

 

The local authority will tell you within six weeks if they are going to carry out an assessment. 

• If the local authority decide to carry out an EHC needs assessment, you may be asked for any reports from your school/college. 
• If the local authority decide not to carry out an EHC needs assessment, you can appeal this decision. 

 

 

Deciding whether an EHC Needs Assessment is needed

After the local authority has made its decision - They will decide whether or not to proceed with your request.

If the Local Authority say no to an assessment

If they decide an EHC Needs Assessment is not needed, they must tell you within 6 weeks of receiving your request

The local authority must then provide you with your appeal rights which will be explained in the letter informing you of their decision. 

 

 If the Local Authority say yes to an assessment

If the local authority decides an EHC Needs Assessment is needed, they must work closely with you to make sure they take full account of your views, wishes and feelings.

You will be required to use the EHC Hub to add your views, wishes and feelings.

The Local Authority will proceed to gather information from Education, Health & Social Care Professionals to find out what support is needed. 

 

What happens after an assessment?

The Local Authority will use the information gathered from professionals and make their decision on whether to issue a Draft EHCP. 

If the Local Authority says no to an EHCP

If the Local Authority decide not to issue a draft EHCP, you can appeal this decision. 

The local authority must provide you with your appeal rights which will be explained in the letter informing you of their decision. 

 

If the Local Authority agrees to issue an EHCP

Your request will proceed to the Draft EHCP stage.  For support on this, please look on the below box. 

 

The Draft EHCP 

Once the assessment has been carried out a draft EHCP will be available for you to view if this has been approved. You will have 15 days to provide feedback and comments on the draft EHCP.

You will be given the opportunity to decide which School/College you want to attend. The Local Authority will then contact the School.  

 

Personal budgets

You may be able to get a personal budget if you have been given an EHCP. 

Personal Budgets allow you to have a say in how the money is spent on your support.

There are three ways you can use your personal budget. You can have:

• Direct payments made into your account (you buy and manage services yourself)
• Notional Arrangements - An arrangement with your local authority or school where they hold the money for you but you still decide how to spend it
• Third-party arrangements – you choose someone else to manage the money for you

You can have a combination of all three. 

 

What can a personal budget be used for? 

A Personal Budget can be used only on the support set out in an EHC plan. This can include health and social care support.  

 

How much will I get? 

How much you get will depend on what has been set out in the EHC plan. There is no set amount. This is assessed on a case by case scenario. 

If the local authority has agreed to make a Direct Payment it must be enough to pay for the service or services specified in the EHC plan.

 

What is the difference between Personal Budget & Direct Payment?

A Personal Budget shows you what money there is to secure the provision in an EHC plan. It also shows who provides it.

The parent or young person does not actually manage the funds directly.

 

With a Direct Payment the parent or young person is given the money for some services and manages the funds themselves.

The parent or young person is responsible for buying the service and paying for it.

 

For further information on Personal Budgets, you can visit:

 

You can access a easy-read document on Personal Budgets. Please click on the following document:

 

Contact - Personal Budgets PDF

 

IPSEA

 

Havering Local Offer Personal Budgets Page

 

 

The final EHC Plan

Any changes requested in the draft stage must be considered by the local authority. 

The local authority must not make any other changes apart from your own.  If they do this, they must send you another draft. 

If changes are agreed, they must amend the plan and issue you an amended final as quickly as possible. 

The final EHC plan should be signed and dated by the local authority officer responsible for signing off the final plan.

The EHC plan will then be shared with your School/College outlining the support they must provide. 

 

Where you have suggested changes which are not agreed, the local authority may still proceed to issue the final EHC plan.

If this happens, the local authority must notify you of your right to appeal.

 

 

Disagreeing with a decision

You can appeal to the Local Authority about:
• their decision to not carry out an assessment
• their decision to not issue an EHC plan
• the special educational support in the EHC plan (Section F)
• the school named in the EHC plan (Section I)

If you can’t resolve the problem with your local authority, you can appeal to the SEND Tribunal. 

Please do take note, that you have 2 months from the decision letter and 1 month from the mediation certificate (if obtained). 

 

What are my appeal rights?

Mediation

Mediation is an informal, confidential and voluntary process which involves an independent facilitator. You can go to Mediation once you reiceve your letter giving you the right of appeal. 

For further information on what is involved in Mediation, you can visit KIDS SEND Mediation on the following link:

 

Tribunal

You can appeal to the SEND Tribunal without going to Mediation, However you must still contact them to obtain a certificate. 

You do not need to go to Mediation or need a certificate if you are appealing Section I (school/college placement) ONLY of the EHCP. However, you can still request mediation if you wish.

• If you are appealing a refusal to assess - you must complete SENDForm35a
• If you are appealing anything else - you must used SENDForm35

To access these forms, please click on the following link: 

 

Please do note, that you have 2 months from the decision letter and 1 month from the mediation certificate (once obtained from the Mediation Service if you need to). 

 

What should be in an EHCP

The format of an EHCP will be agreed locally, so you may find they look slightly different, county to county. However, as a statutory minimum, EHCPs must include the following sections, which must be separately labelled from each other using the letters below.

Section A – Your views wishes and aspirations

Section B – Your Special Educational Needs & Disabilities (SEND)

Section C – Your Health Needs relating to your SEND 

Section D – Your Social Care Needs relating to your SEND

Section E – The outcomes sought for yourself

Section F – Special Educational help or provision required to achieve the outcomes in E

Section G – The Health support required 

Section H1 – The Special Social Care Services that must be provided

Section H2 – Any other Social Care provision reasonably required 

Section I – The name and type of school that you will be attending

Section J – How a personal budget will be used (if requested)

Section K – Details of information gathered for producing the EHC plan

 

Annual Reviews

The Annual Review is a statutory process where the EHCP is reviewed on a yearly basis. 

For further information, you can visit IPSEA's website by clicking on the following link: 

 

 

What if I am not happy with my Education Health & Care Plan?

If you are concerned about your Education, Health & Care Plan and you aren't near the review date, you can do the following:

• Speak with the SEN Department at the School or College
• Request an Early Interim Review of your EHCP

You can find more information on the following link:

 

Also, IPSEA has a wide range of Model Letters you can access to support you with raising any concerns to the Local Authority.  Please click on the following link to access these