EHCP Annual Reviews: How to Ensure Your Child's Plan Actually Works

An EHCP is only as good as its Annual Review. Here is how to prepare, what the legal deadlines are, and how to challenge an LA that refuses to make the amendments your child needs.

Securing an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) for your child is a massive victory. But an EHCP is not a static document to be filed away and forgotten. Children grow, needs change, and the support that worked in Year 3 might be completely ineffective by Year 6. This is why the law requires that every EHCP must be reviewed at least once every 12 months — the Annual Review.

What is the Purpose of an Annual Review?

The Annual Review is a statutory process. Its purpose is to look at the child's progress towards the outcomes specified in the EHCP, and to decide whether the plan needs to be amended, maintained exactly as it is, or ceased. It is your legal opportunity to request changes to Section B (the child's needs), Section F (the provision and support), or Section I (the placement).

The Timeline: What Should Happen

• •At least 2 weeks before the meeting: The school must invite you and relevant professionals, request written advice, and circulate all paperwork to you.
• •The meeting: A collaborative discussion about what is working, what isn't, and what needs to change. Your views, and your child's views, must be central.
• •Within 2 weeks of the meeting: The school must prepare a report of the meeting detailing any recommended amendments and send it to the LA and to you.
• •Within 4 weeks of the meeting: The LA must write to you with their decision — to keep the plan as it is, to amend it, or to cease it.

How to Prepare for the Meeting

• •Read the current EHCP. Go through Sections B and F. Is every need still accurate? Is every piece of provision actually being delivered?
• •Write your parental views in advance. Be specific about what is happening at home.
• •Check the outcomes in Section E. Have they been achieved? If so, new ones need to be set. If not, why not?
• •Gather your own evidence. If you have private reports or letters from CAMHS, submit them before the meeting.

Common Pitfalls

If a child needs different support, the EHCP must be amended — do not accept informal, undocumented changes. If the LA misses the four-week deadline for their decision, they are acting unlawfully. If the LA refuses to make the amendments you requested, they must issue a formal letter, which gives you the right to appeal to the SEND Tribunal.

Emergency Annual Reviews

You do not have to wait 12 months if your child is in crisis. If your child's placement is breaking down, if they have been excluded, or if they are experiencing severe EBSA, you can request an Emergency (or Early) Annual Review by writing to the school and the LA stating that the child's needs have changed significantly and the current provision is no longer appropriate.

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