The Hub
4 - My Plan
The EHC Plan sets out the special educational provision required to meet the special educational needs of the child or young person. It also is to secure the best possible outcomes for them across education, health and social care as well as preparing them for adulthood.
What is included in the EHC plan?
The EHC Plan is a holistic document with legal status. It is different to a statement of special educational needs. The two lists below show the difference between a statement and an EHC plan.
EHC Plan
- Views, interests and aspirations
- Special educational needs (SEN)
- Health needs
- Social care needs
- Outcomes
- Special educational provision
- Any health provision reasonably required
- Social care provision under section 2 of the Chronically Sick and Disabled Act 1970
- Any other social care provision
- Placement (Early Years setting, school or college)
- Personal budget
- Advice and information received
Statement
Previous statement included 6 parts:
- Personal details
- Summary of SEN
- Objectives and Provision
- Education Placement
- Non-educational needs
- Non-educational provision
Example of an EHC Plan
Waltham Forest has developed an EHC Plan template that is statutory compliant and person centred in approach. It was developed with local families and trialled and tested with a small group of children and young people.
Section A - The views, interests and aspirations of the child and his or her parents or the young person.
In Waltham Forest this includes:
- One page profile developed with the family
- About me/Family story
- Important people in my life
- My aspirations
- Important to (what really matters to me) me and for me (good support)
- What's working and not working in my life
- Informal support in the community
- How to communicate with me and engage me in decisions
Section B - The child or young person's special educational needs.
Section C - The child or young person's health needs which are related to their SEN.
Section D - The child or young person's social care needs which are related to their SEN or to a disability.
Section E -The outcomes sought for the child or the young person.
This should include outcomes for adult life. The EHC plan should also identify the arrangements for the setting of shorter term targets by the early years provider, school, college or other education or training provider.
In Waltham Forest this includes the Pathways for getting a life because we want all our children and young people to have good lives.
Section F - The special educational provision required by the child or the young person.
Section G - Any health provision reasonably required by the learning difficulties or disabilities which result in the child or young person having SEN.
Where an Individual Health Care Plan is made for them, that plan should be included.
Section H1 - Any social care provision which must be made for a child or young person under 18 resulting from section 2 of the Chronically Sick and Disabled Persons Act 1970. This includes any domiciliary care in the home
Section H2 - Any other social care provision reasonably required by the learning difficulties or disabilities which result in the child or young person having SEN.
This will include any adult social care provision being provided to meet a young person's eligible needs (through a statutory care and support plan) under the Care Act 2014.
Section I - The name and type of the school, maintained nursery school, post-16 institution or other institution to be attended by the child or young person and the type of that institution (or, where the name of a school or other institution is not specified in the EHC plan, the type of school or other institution to be attended by the child or young person).
Section J - The resources to meet the outcomes specified for education, health and social care. The outcomes that are to be met by any direct payment must be specified.
Section K - The advice and information gathered during the EHC needs assessment must be attached (in appendices). There should be a list of this advice and information.
Funding the EHC Plan
Section J of the EHC Plan outlines the funding and resources needed to meet the outcomes included in the plan. Schools will need to manage and implement the funding only for education. Health and social care services will provide either the service or a direct payment to the family for the area of need they have assessed and identified requiring support.
There are three different elements of the personal budget:
Education: Education personal budget is the statement level e.g. level E upwards and the school retains the management of this.
Health: Health personal budget is any assessed budget for e.g. domiciliary care in the home or home adaptations.
Social Care: Social Care budget is for short-breaks or befriending/sitting and parents can ask for a direct payment for social care personal budgets (see policy and parent leaflets).Information about personal budgets can be found in Section 5.
Naming an Early Years Setting/School or College
Parents will be asked about preferences for an educational setting to be named in the final EHC Plan in section I.
Parents will fill in the preference form and sign. The Local Authority will consult with their preferences enclosing a copy of the draft EHC plan. Educational Settings will be given 15 calendar days (2 weeks and 1 day) to respond to the consultation.
All settings will be consulted with by email and it will be expected that settings respond by email in order to decrease any delay in postage and to reduce impact on the environment.
The Local Authority must name the parents’ preference unless:
- The Early Years setting/School/College is unsuitable for the child’s/young person’s age, ability, aptitude or special educational needs;
- The attendance of the child/young person at the Early Years setting/School/College would be incompatible with the provision of efficient education for the children with whom they would be educated or the efficient use of resources, and there are no reasonable steps to prevent incompatibility;
Education settings can only deny mainstream education against parental wishes, on ground (2) that it would be incompatible with the efficient education of other children. Local Authorities will only be able to rely on this if there are no reasonable steps that either it, or the education setting, could take to prevent this incompatibility. Clear evidence must be provided to justify why no reasonable steps can be taken.
The final EHC Plan will name the setting. The education resources specified in part J of the plan will be provided to the education setting.
Appeals
Parents/carers can appeal against the content of the EHC Plan. They have 2 months to lodge an appeal and they must go through mediation to try and resolve any dispute. Education settings will be involved in this process.