What is an EHCP?

The short version

An Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) is a legal document for children and young people (0 to 25) whose special educational needs can't be met through the support a school or college can offer on its own. It sets out your child's needs in detail, and the specific education, health and care support the local authority must arrange to meet them.

Once it's in place, an EHCP is legally binding: the provision it describes has to be delivered, not just aspired to.

Who it's for

There's no single diagnosis or label that qualifies a child for an EHCP. What matters is whether their needs are significantly greater than most children their age, and whether meeting them needs more than a school can provide from its own budget: extra specialist teaching, therapy, equipment, or a different kind of placement altogether.

How the process works, roughly

• Request an assessment. A parent, school, or other professional asks the local authority to assess whether an EHCP is needed.
• The needs assessment. The local authority gathers advice from education, health and care professionals, usually over several weeks.
• A decision. The local authority decides whether to issue a plan, and if so, sends a draft for you to comment on.
• The draft plan. You can challenge the wording, request changes, or name a preferred school.
• The final plan. Once issued, it's reviewed at least once a year to check it still fits your child's needs.
• If things go wrong. You can challenge a refusal or a plan you disagree with, first often through mediation, and if needed at the SEND Tribunal.

Each of these stages has its own statutory deadlines and its own jargon, which is exactly the part SENguru is built to make manageable.