How often we review your child's EHC plan and what we look at.
When we review your child's EHC plan
We must review your child's EHC Plan:
- at least once a year within 12 months of the date we finalised it if your child is over five
- every six months if your child is under five
If your child is moving between key stages of education we call the review a ‘Key stage transfer' review. Key stages of education include the move from infant to junior school, or from secondary school to education after age 16.
A key stage transfer review looks at:
- your child's future school or placement
- their needs
- the support the new setting will need to put in place
Read our pdf Easy Read guide on EHC plan annual review (2.83 MB) .
Asking for an early review of your child's EHC plan
If you, the school or any professionals involved think there's an urgent need to change your child's EHC plan, we can bring the statutory EHC plan annual review forward. This is called an interim or emergency review.
You should ask for an early EHC Plan review if:
- your child's education, health and, or social care needs have changed and the EHC plan no longer accurately describes them
- the education, health or social care provision in the EHC plan is no longer meeting your child's needs
It's useful to talk to school about your concerns, or speak to the Bristol SEND information advice and support service, SEND And You (SAY), before you ask for an emergency review.
Contact your child's school or the SEND Casework team on 0117 922 3700 if you need to call a review.
Why your child needs an EHC plan annual review
The purpose of the annual review is to look at:
- your child's progress towards achieving the outcomes within the EHC plan
- make sure the plan continues to meet your child's needs
- what difference the educational provision has made for your child
- what difference the health and social care provision has made for your child
- new short term outcomes for your child to achieve in the next 12 months so that your child continues to work towards achieving his or her long term outcomes
What happens before the meeting
We notify all education providers, social care and health providers three times a year of the timeframe in which individual children and young people's EHC plans must be reviewed.
You'll get a letter from your child's school inviting you to the annual review meeting, and asking you for your views on your child's progress. Your child's school must do this at least two weeks before the meeting and include:
- information about your child progress towards meeting their 12 month, as well as long term, outcomes
- your child's current EHC plan
They invite:
- you and your child
- any education, health and social care professionals involved in writing the EHC plan
- us
They'll ask for written reports from you, your child's teachers and anyone else supporting your child. The reports should describe how they think things are going.
Before the meeting you should complete the document Parent and carer contribution review document (38 KB) and email it to your school.
What happens at the meeting
The meeting will usually take place at your child's school. In the meeting you'll be able to discuss:
- the content of your child's EHCP
- your child's progress over the past year
- if your has met the outcomes agreed in the last review
- new outcomes for the next 12 months
- the support the school will get to help your child meet the outcomes
- any further action that may be needed and the person responsible
- if the plan needs changing or is no longer needed
- preparation for adulthood and independent living
What happens after the meeting
Your child's education provider sends us the information from the meeting within two weeks of it taking place. We consider the information about your child's progress towards their outcomes and decide:
- if any changes are needed to the plan
- what the short term outcomes are for the next 12 months
We review your child's EHC Plan based on the meeting and we must tell you our decision within four weeks of the meeting.
We'll either decide to:
- keep your child's EHC plan and provision the same
- change your child's EHC plan and the provision they get
- re-assess your child's needs
- end (cease) your child's EHC plan if we think they no longer need it
We'll write to you and everyone involved in the annual review to tell you our decision and reason.
When we propose changes, you have 15 days to consider these and comment.
If we end (cease) the EHC plan, you should ask the school what support they'll carry on giving your child.
If don't agree with our decision, you can talk to your SEN Assessment Coordinator or contact The Bristol SEND information, advice and support service, SEND And You (SAY).
