Education, Health and Care Plans

What are Education, Health and Care Plans?

These were introduced in September 2014. After this date students with existing Statements of Special Educational Need have had them updated to Educational, Health and Care Plans. All statements have now transferred to Education, Health and Care Plans.

This is an excerpt from the SEND Code of Practice June 2014 describing Educational, Health and Care Plans:

The majority of children and young people with SEN will have their needs met within local mainstream early year’s providers, schools or colleges. A local authority must conduct an assessment of education, health and care needs and prepare an Education, Health and Care (EHC) plan when it considers that it may be necessary for special educational provision to be made for the child or young person through an EHC plan. This is likely to be where the special educational provision required to meet the child or young person’s needs cannot reasonably be provided from within the resources normally available to mainstream early years providers, schools and post 16 institutions. This statutory assessment should not be the first step in the process; rather it should follow on from planning already undertaken with parents and young people in conjunction with an early year’s provider, school, post-16 institution or other provider. EHC plans must be focused on the outcomes the child or young person seeks to achieve across education, health and care. EHC plans must set out how services will work together to meet the child or young person’s needs and in support of those outcomes. EHC plans will be based on a co-ordinated assessment and planning process which puts the child and young person and their parents at the centre of decision making.

Statutory assessment will not always lead to an EHC plan. The information gathered during an assessment may indicate ways in which the school, college or other provider can meet the child or young person’s needs from within available resources.

More information about Educational, Health and Care Plans can be accessed via the North Yorkshire County Council Website.

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