CHECKING YOUR DRAFT EHC PLAN
Your final plan is a legally binding document and the provision on it must be provided
The SEND Code of Practice says:
9.77 The local authority must send the draft EHC plan to the child’s parent or to the young person and give them at least 15 days to give views and make representations on the content.
1. UNDERSTANDING YOUR PLAN
There should be a clear and direct link between the aspirations, needs, provision and outcomes in your plan. This is sometimes referred to as the Golden Thread and can be achieved by thinking about outcomes as steps on the journey towards the aspirations.
Aspirations: This is a goal or objective that is strongly desired by the child, young person and or the parents or carers. They may change as a child or young person gets older but the local authority cannot be held responsible for ensuring aspirations are achieved.
Needs: Children with special educational needs all have learning difficulties or disabilities that make it harder for them to learn than most people of their age. The needs that should be described in your plan are those difficulties that require the child or young person to receive different or additional help from that given to other children of the same age.
Provision: Special educational provision is educational or training provision that is additional to or different from that made generally for other children or young people of the same age.
Outcomes:
The SEND Code of Practice says:
9.66 An outcome can be defined as the benefit or difference made to an individual as a result of an intervention. It should be personal and not expressed from a service perspective; it should be something that those involved have control and influence over, and while it does not always have to be formal or accredited, it should be specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time bound (SMART).
Outcomes should support Aspirations and set high expectations.
- You may wish to set aside at least 2 hours to go through the plan. A selection of coloured highlighters may help you to differentiate between needs, provision and outcomes.
- There is a template at the end of this fact sheet which you may find helpful to use.
- When issuing the draft EHCP following an EHC assessment, the local authority must also take into account the evidence received as part of the EHC needs assessment. When amendments to an EHCP have been made following an Annual Review, any additional advice and information which contributed to the decision to amend the plan must also be considered and must be sent to the parents or young person along with a copy of the previous plan, clearly showing where changes have been made.
2. STEP ONE: REPORTS
The SEND Code of Practice says:
9.61 In preparing the EHC plan the local authority must consider how best to achieve the outcomes sought for the child or young person.
- Go through all of the professional reports used during the assessment and highlight each need.
- Check that these cover ALL of the child or young person’s needs, including all health and social care needs. You may find it useful to put these needs onto the sheet provided under each of the four broad areas of needs headings which should be used throughout your EHC Plan.
- Now go through the reports again, using a different colour and highlight all of the provision. EHC plans must specify the special educational provision to meet each of the child or young person’s special educational needs (CoP page 164).
- Repeat the process with outcomes. The outcome is the benefit or difference made to an individual as a result of an intervention. Remember outcomes should be SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time bound).
- Every need and outcome should have corresponding provision. Again you may find the template helpful to match them up.
The SEND Code of Practice says:
9.69 Provision must be detailed and specific and should normally be quantified, for example, in terms of the type, hours and frequency of support and level of expertise, including where this support is secured through a Personal Budget.
- To be clear about what your child or young person’s help will amount to on a typical school day, ask yourself the following:
– what type of help will my child get? E.g. equipment, learning support, teaching programme, speech therapy.
– who will give that help and do they need particular qualifications or experience?
– how many hours of extra help will he or she need?
– how often will the help happen?
– what teaching strategies will staff use?
– will teaching be 1:1 or in small groups and if so how big will the group be?
– will the child or young person get help for self-care if needed? - Make a note of any gaps in provision in your child’s plan, anything that is unclear or anything you do not agree with or understand. Check back through the reports to see if there are any recommendations you can use as evidence, to support your concerns.
- Beware of ‘weasel’ words like ‘access to…’, ‘where necessary…’, ‘opportunities for…’ or ‘help as required’. The plan should say how much help your child will get and how often. Words like these leave it up to someone else to decide so your child or young person may not get the help they need.
- If there is no specification or quantification you can contact the report author and ask for them to include this. If they are unsure, ask for the minimum amount. If you do this by email you can copy in your SEND practitioner. If by phone it is a good idea to let your SEND practitioner know.
3. STEP TWO: THE DRAFT PLAN
- Once you have a table or list with needs, provision and outcomes, check that all of these have been included in the draft plan.
- If the child or young person had a statement and is transferring to an EHCP, check that anything in parts 2 and 3 of the statement that is still relevant, is in the draft EHCP.
