What is an Education, Health and Care (EHC) plan?

An Education, Health and Care plan (EHC plan) is a legal document which describes a child or young person’s aged up to 25 special educational needs, the support they need, and the outcomes they would like to achieve.

The special educational provision described in an EHC plan must be provided by the child or young person’s local authority. This means an EHC plan can give a child or young person extra educational support. It can also give parents and young people more choice about which school or other setting the child or young person can attend.

An EHC plan can only be issued after a child or young person has gone through the process of an Education, Health and Care needs assessment.

Special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) can affect a child or young person’s ability to learn. They can affect their:

• behaviour or ability to socialise, for example they struggle to make friends

• reading and writing, for example because they have dyslexia

• ability to understand things

• concentration levels, for example because they have attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)

• physical ability

If you think your child may have special educational needs, contact the SEN co-ordinator, or ‘SENCO’ in your child’s school or nursery.

Contact your local council if your child is not in a school or nursery.

Your local Information, Advice and Support Service (IASS) can give you advice about SEND.