A Practical Guide to the Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) Process

The law on special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) remains an ever developing and pertinent area of practice. At the time of writing this practitioners’s guide, potential changes to SEND legislation were being reviewed and a Schools White Paper due in early 2026.

The current legislation set outs out the Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) process as a means of additional support for children and young people with SEND, with the responsibility on the particular local authority. The process starts with an assessment of the child or young person’s education, health and care needs. Following successful completion of this assessment, and confirmation that additional provision is required to meet the identified needs through the security of an EHCP, then a draft Plan is prepared. Once finalised, then the EHCP will be a legally enforceable document, centred on the special educational provisions set out to address the SEND detailed, usually to be delivered in a named educational placement.

This detailed practitioners’s guide to the EHCP process, includes examination of steps before the process, the need for clear and relevant expert evidence, and the legal requirements of all eleven sections of an EHCP. Timelines of the various stages of the process are also provided, as are detail on practical points and analysis of relevant case law judgements.