Early years settings have a duty to meet the needs of all their children and to follow a graduated response to identification and meeting Special Educational Needs. For a small number of low incidence-high need children the setting may need further guidance and resource from the local authority in order to meet their specific individual needs. In these cases, the setting has a duty of care to apply for an Education, Health, Care (EHC) assessment and the local authority has a duty to respond within legal timeframes.
The Education Health and Care Plan (EHCP) is a legal document which sets out a description of a child's special educational, health and care needs and what provision (what will be done) to meet their needs in to enable the child to make progress. It is crucial that the family and child are fully informed of the Education, Health, Care needs assessment process and supported through it. Parents routinely report that they feel set up for a battle and that they have multiple professionals and panels contradicting each other, which causes understandable frustration. It is the duty of all SEND professionals to have a robust and working knowledge of processes locally and nationally so that parents can be supported through the process amicably, keeping the child in mind at all times.
Who requires an Education, Health and Care Plan?
The EHC assessment process
Annual Reviews of Education, Health and Care Plans
