EHCP Annual Reviews: A Guide for Parents and Carers

About this guide

This guide is for parents and carers whose child or young person has an Education, Health and Care plan and who want to understand what an annual review is, what should happen, and what they can do to prepare. It is written for people attending their first review as much as for those who have been through several.

The law and guidance described here apply to England. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have different systems, so guidance written for England does not transfer across.

If you are earlier in the process, our other guides cover the stages before this one: What is an EHCP?, how to request an EHC needs assessment, what happens during an EHC needs assessment and what should be included in an EHCP.

What is an EHCP annual review?

An annual review is the statutory review of an EHC plan. Section 44 of the Children and Families Act 2014 requires the local authority to review a plan it maintains at least every 12 months. The SEND Code of Practice puts it plainly: plans must be reviewed by the local authority as a minimum every 12 months.

It helps to separate three things that are often described loosely as "the annual review":

• The review meeting. Usually held at the school or setting the child attends, bringing together the family, the setting and other invited professionals to look at progress.
• The review of the plan. The wider statutory process: gathering advice beforehand, holding the meeting, producing a report, and the local authority considering whether the plan is still right.
• The local authority's decision. The formal outcome. After the meeting, the authority must decide whether to maintain the plan as it is, amend it, or cease to maintain it, and notify you.

Why are annual reviews important?

The Code of Practice describes EHC plans as documents that should be used to actively monitor a child or young person's progress towards their outcomes and longer-term aspirations. The review is where that monitoring is formalised.

Reviews should, among other things:

• gather and assess information so that settings can support progress and access to teaching and learning
• review the special educational provision to check it is effective in securing access to learning and good progress
• review the health and social care provision and how effective it is in supporting progress towards outcomes
• consider whether the plan remains appropriate in the light of progress over the year or changed circumstances, including whether outcomes, provision or the setting need to change, or whether the plan should be discontinued
• set new interim targets for the coming year and, where appropriate, agree new outcomes

In practice, a good review is the main opportunity each year to test whether the plan still describes your child accurately and whether what it promises is actually happening.

When should an annual review take place?

The first review must be held within 12 months of the date the EHC plan was issued, and each subsequent review within 12 months of the previous review. That is a minimum, not a target: a plan can be reviewed sooner where circumstances warrant it, and an emergency or interim review can be requested.

Children under five

The Code says local authorities should consider reviewing a plan for a child under five at least every three to six months to make sure provision remains appropriate. Such reviews complement, rather than replace, the duty to review at least annually, and may be streamlined without the full range of professionals attending. The child's parent must still be fully consulted on any proposed changes and made aware of the right to appeal.

Moving between phases of education

Where a child is moving between key phases of education, the plan must be reviewed and amended in sufficient time to plan for the new setting. For transfers into or between schools — early years provider to school, infant to junior, primary to middle, primary to secondary, middle to secondary — the review and any amendments must be completed by 15 February in the calendar year of the transfer at the latest.

For young people moving from secondary school to a post-16 institution or an apprenticeship, the review and any amendments — including specifying the post-16 provision and naming the institution — must be completed by 31 March in the calendar year of transfer. Where a young person is expected to move between post-16 institutions, the local authority must review and, where necessary, amend the plan at least five months before the transfer takes place.

From Year 9 onwards

All reviews taking place from Year 9 at the latest must include a focus on preparing for adulthood: employment, independent living and participation in society. That planning must be built into the plan itself, not simply discussed. The Code is explicit that it is particularly important in these reviews to seek and record the views, wishes and feelings of the child or young person.

Other specific circumstances

There are additional requirements in particular situations — for example, the local authority must review and maintain a plan when a child or young person is released from custody, involving the family and, where relevant, the youth offending team. For looked-after children, the annual review should where possible coincide with a review under the care plan, in particular the personal education plan element. When reviewing a plan for a young person aged over 18, the authority must have regard to whether the education or training outcomes in the plan have been achieved.

What happens before the annual review meeting?

Where a child or young person attends a school or other institution, the local authority and that setting must co-operate to ensure a review meeting takes place. The authority can require maintained schools, maintained nursery schools, academies, alternative provision academies, pupil referral units, non-maintained special schools and independent institutions approved under section 41 to convene and hold the meeting on its behalf. It can request, but not require, that early years settings, colleges and other post-16 institutions do so.

Before the meeting, the Code requires that:

• everyone who must be invited is given at least two weeks' notice of the date of the meeting
• the school (or, where the child does not attend a school, the local authority) seeks advice and information about the child or young person from all parties invited
• that advice and information is sent to everyone invited at least two weeks before the meeting

That last point matters for families. You should not be reading professional reports for the first time in the meeting. If reports have not arrived two weeks beforehand, it is entirely reasonable to ask for them, or to ask whether the meeting should be moved.

The Code also says the local authority should give headteachers and principals a list of the children and young people needing a review that term at least two weeks before the start of each term, and share the list with health and social care colleagues so they can plan attendance or provide advice.

Who should be invited to the annual review?

Where the child or young person attends a school or other institution, the following must be invited and given at least two weeks' notice:

• the child's parents, or the young person
• a representative of the school or other institution attended
• a local authority SEN officer
• a health service representative
• a local authority social care representative

Other individuals relevant to the review should also be invited, including youth offending teams and job coaches where relevant. Where a child or young person does not attend a school or other institution, the same list applies apart from the setting representative, and the local authority may invite anyone else it considers appropriate.

What information should be gathered?

The advice and information sought before the meeting should come from all those invited, which means the picture is not limited to the school's view. Useful material typically includes progress against the outcomes in the plan, information about the special educational provision actually being delivered, professional reports from health or therapy services involved, social care input where relevant, and the child or young person's own contribution.

You can contribute written information too, and it is usually better to send it in advance so it can be circulated. Our guide to what should be included in an EHCP explains how needs, outcomes and provision should relate to each other — which is a useful lens when deciding what evidence is worth putting forward.

How should the child's or young person's views be included?

Reviews must be undertaken in partnership with the child and their parent, or with the young person, and must take account of their views, wishes and feelings — including their right to request a personal budget. The Code also says children, parents and young people should be supported to engage fully in the review meeting.

Participation does not look the same for every child, and it should not be assumed that attending the whole meeting is the right form of involvement. Depending on age, understanding and communication, a child's contribution might be:

• attending part or all of the meeting, with support
• a written or recorded contribution shared at the meeting
• work produced with a trusted adult — pictures, photographs, a one-page profile
• views gathered by someone who knows them well, using their usual communication methods
• the use of an advocate or communication support where that is appropriate

The test is whether their views genuinely influenced the discussion, not whether a box was ticked. From Year 9 onwards, when reviews must focus on preparing for adulthood, recording the young person's own aspirations becomes particularly important.

How can parents and carers contribute?

You know things about your child that no professional report will contain: what home looks like after a hard school day, what has genuinely changed since last year, what your child says about their own experience. That evidence is legitimate and should be recorded.

It usually helps to:

• re-read the current plan in full before the meeting, section by section
• note where the description of needs no longer matches your child
• note the outcomes that have been achieved, partly achieved or overtaken by events
• list, specifically, any provision in Section F that you do not think is being delivered as written
• write down two or three things you most want to change, so the discussion does not drift
• send your written contribution in advance rather than reading it out cold

You are also entitled to bring someone with you. That might be a partner, a friend, or a supporter from an advice service. Two sets of ears in a meeting is not confrontational; it is sensible.

What should be reviewed?

The meeting must focus on the child or young person's progress towards achieving the outcomes specified in the plan, and on what changes might need to be made to the support provided to help them achieve those outcomes — or whether the outcomes themselves need to change.

That leads naturally to a set of questions that the sections below take in turn: are the needs still described accurately, are the outcomes still appropriate, is the education provision still right, is the health provision still right, is the social care provision still right, and is the placement still right?

Are the child's special educational needs still accurately described?

Section B should specify all of the child or young person's identified special educational needs. A year is a long time in a child's development, and needs commonly shift — some ease, some become clearer, some emerge that were not visible at assessment.

Worth checking:

• is anything described in Section B no longer an accurate picture?
• has a need emerged during the year that is not described at all?
• does the description reflect how the need presents now, rather than at assessment?
• is a need mentioned in an appended report but missing from Section B itself?

This matters because provision in Section F should address the needs in Section B. A need that is not recorded is a need the plan is not obliged to meet.

Are the outcomes still appropriate?

The review must consider whether the outcomes and supporting targets remain appropriate. Outcomes are what the support is working towards — the benefit or difference for the child — rather than a description of the support itself.

Useful questions:

• what progress has actually been made towards each outcome, and what is the evidence?
• has an outcome been achieved, so that a new one should replace it?
• is an outcome unchanged from last year with little progress — and if so, why?
• are the outcomes still meaningful for the next stage of my child's life?
• for a young person from Year 9 onwards, do the outcomes cover employment, independent living and participation in society?

The review should also set new interim targets for the coming year and, where appropriate, agree new outcomes.

Is the special educational provision still appropriate?

Reviews should look at whether the special educational provision is effective in securing access to teaching and learning and good progress. There are really two questions here, and they are worth keeping apart: is the provision the right provision, and is it happening as written?

Section F should be detailed and specific, and the Code says it should normally be quantified — for example by type, hours and frequency of support and the level of expertise required. Where provision is vague, it becomes hard to tell whether it is being delivered at all. Our guide to what should be included in an EHCP looks at this in detail.

The local authority remains under a duty to secure the special educational provision specified in the plan. That duty does not pass to the school simply because the school is delivering the support day to day.

Is the health provision still appropriate?

Reviews should consider the health provision made for the child or young person and how effective it has been in supporting progress towards outcomes. Where health care provision is specified in the plan, the responsible commissioning body must arrange it.

Questions worth asking:

• has the health provision described in the plan actually been delivered this year?
• have waiting times or service changes affected what was received?
• has a health need changed in a way that affects education?
• if therapy support is educational in purpose, is it recorded where it can be enforced?
• for a young person approaching adulthood, has transition to adult health services been planned?

Where health and education intersect, families often carry the coordination themselves. Our page on children with health needs alongside SEND covers how that fits together.

Is the social care provision still appropriate?

The review should also look at the social care provision in the plan and its effectiveness. Section H1 records provision made under section 2 of the Chronically Sick and Disabled Persons Act 1970; Section H2 records other social care provision reasonably required.

Where a young person is approaching 18, transition to adult social care becomes part of the picture, and the Code expects preparation-for-adulthood reviews to include effective planning for the move from children's to adult care and health services. If the care element is later provided by adult services under the Care Act 2014, the care plan remains in place when the other elements of the EHC plan cease.

Is the educational placement still appropriate?

The review must consider the continuing appropriateness of the plan in light of progress or changed circumstances, and that expressly includes whether a change of educational establishment is required.

A review meeting can recommend a change of setting, but it does not by itself change the placement. Section I of the plan names the setting, and changing it requires the local authority to amend the plan — which brings with it the amendment process, the right to make representations and request a particular school or institution, and appeal rights.

Where a child is moving between phases of education, the transfer deadlines described above apply, and the review should be timed so that the new setting is named in good time rather than in the weeks before a move.

What if the EHCP is no longer working?

"The plan isn't working" usually turns out to be one of three distinct problems, and they have different remedies:

• The plan describes the wrong child. Needs have changed or were never fully captured, so Sections B, C or D need amending.
• The plan is right but is not being delivered. Sections B and F are accurate, but the support described is not happening in practice.
• The plan is too vague to deliver. Provision is written so loosely that nobody can say whether it has happened.

Being clear which one you are raising makes the conversation far more productive, because each points to a different action: amendment, enforcement, or greater specificity.

What if needs have changed?

Where needs have changed, the review is the natural place to say so, with evidence. If the local authority agrees, it can amend the plan so that the descriptions of need, the outcomes and the provision are brought back into line.

Where needs have changed significantly, a re-assessment may be more appropriate than an amendment. The Code notes that there may be occasions when a re-assessment becomes appropriate, particularly when a child or young person's needs change significantly. A parent or young person can ask for one; the authority can refuse a request, and must notify its decision. Where an EHC needs re-assessment does go ahead, the overall maximum timescale is 14 weeks from the decision to re-assess to the issuing of the final amended plan.

What if provision is not being delivered?

This is the distinction most worth holding on to. "My child's needs have changed" is an argument about the content of the plan. "The provision in the EHCP is not being delivered" is an argument about whether an existing legal duty is being met. They can both be true at once, but they are not the same thing, and treating them as one muddles both.

If the issue is content, the route is amendment following the review, with appeal rights if you disagree with the outcome. If the issue is delivery, amending the plan will not fix it — the plan already says what should happen. The question becomes how the specified provision is being secured.

To evidence a delivery problem, it helps to:

• quote the exact wording of the provision in Section F
• record what has actually happened, with dates, over a defined period
• note where a shortfall was caused by staffing, absence or waiting lists
• raise it in writing with the setting first, then with the local authority SEN team
• ask for the position to be recorded in the review report

Our pages on working with your child's school and making an existing EHCP work in practice go into how to raise these concerns constructively.

What happens during the annual review meeting?

Reviews are normally held at the setting the child or young person attends, and the Code says they are generally most effective when led by the setting, because it knows the child best and has the clearest information about progress. There may be exceptional circumstances where the local authority holds the meeting elsewhere.

There is no single prescribed running order, but the meeting must focus on progress towards the outcomes in the plan and on what changes might be needed to the support or to the outcomes themselves. In practice a meeting will usually cover the child or young person's views, an update from the setting, contributions from other professionals present, the parents' or young person's contribution, a discussion of each outcome, and any recommendations for change.

It is reasonable to ask for recommendations to be summarised out loud before the meeting closes, so that everyone leaves with the same understanding of what will be written down.

What happens after the meeting?

Within two weeks of the meeting, the school (or the local authority, where the child does not attend a school or other institution) must prepare and send a report of the meeting to everyone who was invited. The report must set out recommendations on any amendments required to the plan, and should refer to any difference between the setting's recommendations and those of others who attended.

That last point is worth knowing. If you disagreed with something in the meeting, the report should reflect that there was a difference of view rather than presenting a consensus that did not exist. If the report arrives and does not record your position, ask for it to be corrected.

The report is a recommendation to the local authority. It is not the decision.

What decisions can the local authority make?

Within four weeks of the review meeting, the local authority must decide whether it proposes to keep the plan as it is, amend the plan, or cease to maintain it, and must notify the child's parent or the young person, and the setting attended.

• Maintain. The plan stays as it is. The authority continues to be under a duty to secure the special educational provision specified in it.
• Amend. The authority proposes changes. If the plan needs to be amended, it should start the amendment process without delay.
• Cease to maintain. The authority proposes to end the plan. There is a separate consultation process before this can happen.

Where the authority decides not to amend the plan, or decides to cease to maintain it, it must notify you of your right to appeal that decision and the time limits for doing so, of the requirement to consider mediation should you wish to appeal, and of the availability of information, advice and support and disagreement resolution services.

Can an EHCP be amended?

Yes. Plans can be amended following a review, and at other times where the authority proposes changes other than as part of a re-assessment. The Code notes that plans are not expected to be amended on a very frequent basis, but that changes may be needed where, for example, health or social care provision changes without a full review or re-assessment being necessary.

The process runs like this:

1. The local authority sends you a copy of the existing, non-amended plan together with a notice setting out the proposed amendments, including copies of any evidence supporting them. You should be told you may request a meeting to discuss the proposed changes.
2. You must be given at least 15 calendar days to comment and make representations on the proposed changes, including requesting that a particular school or other institution be named.
3. If the authority decides to go ahead, it must issue the amended plan as quickly as possible and within 8 weeks of the original amendment notice. If it decides not to make the amendments, it must tell you why within the same time limit.
4. When sending the final amended plan, the authority must notify you of your right to appeal and the time limit, the requirement to consider mediation if you wish to appeal, and the availability of information, advice and support and disagreement resolution services.

An amended plan should state that it is an amended version, give the date of amendment and the date of the original plan, and make clear which parts have been amended. Advice and information contributing to the amendment, such as review minutes and reports, should be appended in the same way as advice from the original assessment.

Can an EHCP be ceased?

A local authority may cease to maintain an EHC plan only if it determines that it is no longer necessary for the plan to be maintained, or if it is no longer responsible for the child or young person.

"No longer necessary" includes where the child or young person no longer requires the special educational provision specified in the plan. When deciding this for a young person aged 19 or over, the authority must take account of whether the education or training outcomes in the plan have been achieved — and it must not cease a plan simply because the young person is 19 or over.

The authority is no longer responsible in circumstances including where a young person aged 16 or over leaves education for paid employment (including employment with training, but excluding apprenticeships), enters higher education, is aged 18 or over and leaves education without wishing to engage in further learning, or has moved to another local authority area.

Important protections apply:

• Where a young person under 18 is excluded or leaves their setting voluntarily, the authority must not cease the plan unless it decides special educational provision in accordance with a plan is no longer necessary; the focus should be on re-engaging them in education or training.
• Where a young person aged 18 or over leaves before the end of their course, the authority must not cease the plan unless it has reviewed it to determine whether they wish to return to education or training.
• A plan cannot be ceased because a child or young person has been given a custodial sentence.
• Support should generally cease at the end of the academic year, and a plan can be maintained until the end of the academic year in which a young person turns 25 where their course has not ended.

Before ceasing, the authority must inform you that it is considering it, consult you, and consult the setting named in the plan. If it then decides to cease, it must notify you, the named setting and the responsible health commissioner, and must tell you about your appeal rights, mediation and the sources of advice and support available.

What if parents disagree with the local authority's decision?

Not every disagreement needs a formal route. Asking for the review report to be corrected, requesting a meeting to discuss proposed amendments, or writing to the SEN caseworker with specific points and evidence resolves a good deal.

Where a formal route is needed, appeal rights to the First-tier Tribunal (Special Educational Needs and Disability) arise following a review in defined circumstances — including a decision not to amend the plan, a decision to cease to maintain it, and, once an amended plan is issued, its description of needs, the special educational provision and the setting named. The notification letter must tell you what you can appeal and the time limit for doing so.

Before registering most appeals you must contact a mediation adviser and consider mediation, though you are not obliged to take part; you can still appeal if you decide not to. Disagreement resolution services are also available, and are separate from mediation.

Local SEND Information, Advice and Support Services (SENDIASS) are free, impartial and can talk through your options. If you would like help preparing for a review or thinking through a decision, you are also welcome to get in touch with us.

What are the relevant statutory timescales?

The timescales are easier to hold on to as a sequence rather than a list:

1. At least two weeks before the meeting: invitations must have been sent, and the advice and information gathered must be circulated to everyone invited.
2. The meeting: held within 12 months of the plan being issued, and thereafter within 12 months of the previous review.
3. Within two weeks of the meeting: the review report is sent to everyone who was invited.
4. Within four weeks of the meeting: the local authority must decide whether to maintain, amend or cease the plan, and notify you.
5. If amending: at least 15 calendar days for you to make representations, and the amended plan issued within 8 weeks of the amendment notice.

Practical annual review checklist for parents

Before the meeting

• Diary the date and check it falls within 12 months of the plan or last review.
• Confirm you received at least two weeks' notice.
• Chase the advice and reports if they have not arrived two weeks beforehand.
• Re-read the plan in full, section by section.
• Note where Section B no longer describes your child.
• Note progress, or lack of it, against each outcome in Section E.
• List any Section F provision you believe is not being delivered as written.
• Gather your child's views in whatever form works for them.
• Send your written contribution in advance.
• Decide your two or three priorities for the meeting.

During the meeting

• Check who is present and who was invited but did not attend.
• Make sure your child's views are heard early, not squeezed in at the end.
• Separate "needs have changed" from "provision is not being delivered".
• Ask for specifics: what, how much, how often, by whom.
• Ask for any disagreement to be recorded as a disagreement.
• Ask for the recommendations to be summarised before the meeting closes.

After the meeting

• Expect the review report within two weeks; ask for corrections if it is inaccurate.
• Expect the local authority's decision within four weeks of the meeting.
• If amendments are proposed, read the notice and use the 15-day period to respond.
• Keep copies of everything, with dates.
• Check the appeal information in any notification letter, and note the time limit.

Questions parents may wish to ask at an annual review

• What progress has been made towards each outcome, and what is the evidence for that?
• Which parts of Section F have been delivered in full this year, and which have not?
• Where provision has been missed, what was the reason, and what is being done about it?
• Who is delivering each element of the support, and what is their level of expertise?
• Does Section B still describe my child accurately, and if not, what needs to change?
• Are these still the right outcomes for the year ahead?
• What are the interim targets for the coming year?
• Has health advice been provided, and how has it been taken into account?
• Is the current setting still able to meet these needs?
• For Year 9 and beyond: how does this plan prepare my child for adulthood?
• What will the review report recommend, and when will I receive it?
• When should I expect the local authority's decision?

Free SEND Starter Pack

If you are preparing for a review and want a clear grounding in how the system fits together, our Free SEND Starter Pack sets out the key stages, the language used and the questions worth asking. It is written for parents and carers in England and costs nothing.

You can also browse our resources page, our EHCP support for families and our wider support for parents and carers.

Further official information

• GOV.UK — Children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), the plain-English overview of the system in England.
• SEND Code of Practice: 0 to 25 years. Chapter 9 covers reviews (9.166 onwards), amendments and ceasing a plan.
• Children and Families Act 2014, section 44 (reviews and re-assessments) and section 45 (ceasing to maintain a plan).
• The SEND Regulations 2014, which set out the review, amendment and cessation procedures.
• GOV.UK — Appealing a decision about your child's SEND support, including mediation and time limits.

Your local authority's Local Offer and your local SEND Information, Advice and Support Service (SENDIASS) can explain how reviews are arranged in your area.