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EHCP reviews

If your child or young person has an education, health and care plan (EHCP) it must be reviewed at least once a year* to ensure it stays up-to-date and continues to provide the best support your child or young person needs. 

*Except for children aged 0 – 5, where the EHCP should be reviewed at least every 6 months.

Types of EHCP review

Depending on the age or stage your child is at, there are different types of review. Whatever stage you are at however, you should expect a review at least once a year, and all reviews are legally bound by the same process.

If your child is starting school, or moving to another phase of education, the review must take place at a certain time of year in order that everything is in place before the transition. 

If your child is aged between 0-5

If your child is under 5 years old, their EHCP should be reviewed more regularly - at least every 6 months - to ensure that their provision continues to meet their changing needs as they grow.  Depending on your child's needs, these more regular reviews may not require all professionals to attend. 

We (Hertfordshire County Council) can request that your child's early years setting holds the review meeting on our behalf. Most reviews for younger children will be held in your child's setting and led by the professionals who work closely with your child. They know your child well, and will have the clearest information about progress and next steps.  In exceptional circumstances, your child's review may be led by the Early Years SEND team at a different location - for example, if your child attends more than one setting. 

Children (up until the end of Reception year) with an EHCP will be allocated to an Early Years Education, Health and Care Plan Coordinator (EHCCo) from the Early Years SEND team. The EHCCos will support you and your child's setting to regularly review the EHCP and plan for next steps. If you don't know who your EHC Coordinator is, contact the Early Years SEND duty line on 01442 453300, or email us on: EarlyYearsStatutorySend@hertfordshire.gov.uk.

Starting school, moving from primary to secondary, or going to college ("phase transfer")

If your child or young person is moving on to a different phase of education, the EHCP must be reviewed and amended.

All reviews, school consultations and amendments to an EHCP should be completed by 15 February for any year of change. This gives enough time to resolve any issues before the end of the summer term.

For those transferring from secondary school to college, the EHCP must be reviewed and amended by 31 March in the year of transfer.

After the review, the EHCP should state that the child or young person will continue to attend their current setting until the end of the academic year (or another date if different). In Section I, it should name the setting or the type of setting that they will attend from the start of the next academic year.

Changing schools in year for another reason

If you're moving or changing schools for any reason other than a phase transfer- i.e. you are relocating to a new area or you're considering moving to a special school- then this will also require a change to the EHCP and a review.

In these circumstances, we'll (Hertfordshire County Council) need to consult with the new school so that they can be named in the EHCP. You should contact your EHC Coordinator to discuss this.

Who should I contact about my child's EHCP?

Preparing for adulthood Year 9 and beyond

Once your child reaches year 9, annual review becomes an opportunity to discuss what they would like to achieve as they grow up.

The focus of the review should become more about how they will be supported to learn the skills they need for adulthood, and the provisions in the plan that can help them to do that.

If your child hasn’t attended reviews in the past, you might like to think about how they could be involved in the meetings, and how they can share their views on their dreams, wishes and aspirations for adulthood.

You might hear the term “transition planning” around this time, and annual reviews from this point should be thinking about how to help your young person to successfully move into adulthood as independently as their needs allow; including thinking about what they want to be able to do when they leave post-16 education.

If your young person has special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) and attends a special school, a Personal Adviser from the Services for Young People SEND team will be involved in the Year 9 EHCP review, working closely with your family and the school to identify appropriate support as your young person prepare for adulthood. If your child attends a special school and hasn’t yet had support from a personal advisor with their preparing for adulthood review, you can contact the SfYP SEND team about this. If your child is in a mainstream setting, they can be supported by a Personal Adviser within the local area team, who will attend their Year 9 annual review and will write a Preparing for Adulthood (PfA) transition plan. Please visit the Services for Young People website for contact details of your local area team.

If your child or young person is aged 16+ and at college, they will have a named EHC Coordinator from the Services for Young Person SEND team. If you're not sure who this is, you can contact them at ServicesforYoungPeopleStatutorySend@hertfordshire.gov.uk.

Some young people with EHCPs may need longer in education or training in order to achieve their outcomes and make an effective transition into adulthood. This is something we'll take into consideration at annual reviews for young people aged 19-25.

Early Reviews

In some cases, an early review might be necessary. You can ask for an early review at any time - as long as you have a good reason.

This might include:

  • your child or young person’s education, health or social care needs have changed, or are no longer accurately described in the EHCP
  • the education, health or social care provision in the EHCP is no longer meeting your child or young person’s needs
  • you are relocating to a new area
  • your child or young person has been excluded from school or is considered to be at risk of exclusion.

If you believe there's an urgent need for a change to your child or young person’s EHCP you should ask for a review to be arranged as soon as possible. If your child or young person attends school or college you should speak to the SENCo or the person responsible for SEND. If your child does not attend an educational setting speak to your EHC Coordinator. 

Who should I contact about my child's EHCP? 

The EHCP review process

Annual review is the statutory process of looking at the needs and provision specified in an EHCP and deciding whether these need to change or remain.

Here's an outline of the process:

  • Before the review, parents and professionals included in the EHCP, and the educational setting the child or young person attends- should have an opportunity to share their thoughts about progress, aspirations and changes needed to the plan.
  • Information must be gathered from all parties and circulated to everyone involved 2 weeks before the annual review meeting.
  • You’ll be given at least 2 weeks notice of the date of your review meeting. All professionals who provide the support outlined in your child or young person's EHCP will be invited. Attendance isn't compulsory, however annual review meetings are considered most effective when the educational setting (such as the school or college) leads the review. In some cases, the review meeting will just be attended by the SENCo, the parent/carer and (if appropriate) the child or young person. 
Information:

You should be given at least 2 weeks to prepare for the meeting. If you don’t feel like you’ve been given enough time then you should speak to your SENCo about changing the date. 

You can ask your SENCo about any amendments or changes he/she would suggest to your child's EHCP so that you have time to think about these before discussing it at the meeting.

  • An annual review meeting must take place to discuss the EHCP.
  • Within 2 weeks of your meeting, you should receive a written report from the Chair of the meeting (in most cases this will be the SENCo). The Chair must also submit the report to your EHC Coordinator at the council within 2 weeks of the meeting. (Not sure who your EHC Coordinator is? Check out the 'who should I contact about my child's EHCP?' page to find out). If you think something is incorrect or missing in the report, you should contact the person who chaired the meeting to discuss.
  • After the meeting, we'll review the EHCP in more detail.
  • We'll notify you of our decision to either maintain, amend, or end the EHCP within 4 weeks of the meeting.

All of these steps must be followed for an annual review to be completed.

Information:

Preparing for your annual review meeting:

  • Write down some notes with questions you’d like to ask or points you'd like to raise. This will ensure that everything you want to discuss is covered.
  • Take lots of notes during the meeting so you can keep a record of what was discussed or agreed.
  • Take someone along with you to the meeting for support - this could be a family member, or a close friend. Representatives from SENDIASS can also attend meetings with parents or young people.  

What happens after the review

Within 4 weeks of the review meeting, we'll let you know of our decision to either:

  • maintain the EHCP (no changes)
  • amend the EHCP
  • end the EHCP.

If the decision is to amend the EHCP

Your EHC Coordinator will send you a draft copy with an amendment notice that clearly states the proposed change(s) and any supporting evidence. Along with the draft we'll send you copies of all the professional reports.

You'll then have 15 days to:

  • consider and comment on the draft EHCP
  • request for a meeting with your EHC Coordinator to discuss
  • ask for a particular school or setting to be named in the final EHCP.
If you're not happy with the amended plan

If you're not happy with the amendments to your child's EHCP, you should contact your SENCo and the EHC Coordinator to discuss.  You can also contact the SEND resolutions team:

 SENDResolutions@hertfordshire.gov.uk. 

They can work with you to help resolve disagreements and find ways forward. 

You'll find more information on the 'Resolving issues relating to EHCPs page'

The final plan

Once the draft EHCP has been issued and time given for any comments or representations, the final EHCP must then be issued within 8 weeks of the date of the original amendment notice.

If the decision is to end the EHCP

If the decision is to end the EHCP, we'll provide you with information about mediation, your right to appeal and the time limits for doing so.

You'll find more information on the 'Resolving issues relating to EHCPs page'

Mediation

SENDIASS


Page was last updated on: 19/12/2025 11:13:56