The EHCP Annual Review: A Parent's Guide
An EHC plan is not a one off document. Children change, provision drifts and what worked in Year 3 may be useless in Year 5. The annual review is the legal mechanism that keeps the plan true to the child, and it is the one point in the year when the local authority is required to sit down, look at the evidence and decide whether the plan still fits. Done well, it is where the plan catches up with your child. Done badly, it is a photocopy exercise. Knowing the rules is what makes the difference.
The duty: every 12 months (section 44)
Section 44 requires the local authority to review the plan within 12 months of it being made, and then within every 12 months of the last review. The duty sits with the council even though the school usually organises the meeting on the ground. There is no exception for busy years or staffing gaps.
Separately, you or the school can request a re-assessment if your child's needs have changed significantly. You do not have to wait for the anniversary to do that.
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See a free section →The meeting and who must be there (regulation 20)
The annual review must include a meeting; it cannot be done entirely on paper. Regulation 20 requires the invitations to include the parent or young person, the head teacher or principal, an officer of the local authority, a health care professional and a social care representative. Not everyone attends every year in practice, but the invitations are required, and where the health or social care parts of the plan are in trouble it is reasonable to press for those services to attend or at least submit written advice.
Your views are part of the review itself, not a courtesy extended to you. Ask for the meeting date well in advance and for all reports to be shared with you before the meeting, so nobody is speed reading at the table.
Preparing your contribution
- Reread sections B, E and F of the plan before the meeting; most people around the table will not have.
- Bring a delivery log: for each line of section F, what actually happened this year and what quietly stopped.
- Assess each outcome in section E honestly: met, partly met or not met, and why.
- List what has changed: new needs, new reports, new diagnoses and things that no longer work.
- Send your views in writing before the meeting so they are on the record even if the conversation runs away.
This is also where the wording of the plan proves its worth. If section F was quantified, you can show in minutes whether it was delivered. If it says "access to support", nobody can say whether it happened, which is a strong argument for tightening it now; see our guide to what good section F provision looks like.
After the meeting: amendments and your 15 days (regulation 22)
Following the review, the local authority decides whether to leave the plan as it is or to amend it. If it proposes amendments, regulation 22 requires it to send you the plan together with the proposed amendments and the evidence behind them, and to give you at least 15 days to make representations and to request a school.
Treat that window exactly like the draft stage of a new plan: check that every need is still captured in section B, that every need has matching quantified provision in section F and that the outcomes in section E are testable. If the amended final plan is still wrong, you can appeal sections B, F or I under section 51(2)(c) of the Children and Families Act 2014; our guide to appealing the contents of a plan explains how.
Phase transfer years: earlier, harder deadlines (regulation 18)
In the school year when your child moves between phases, for example infant to junior, primary to secondary or secondary to post-16, the review has fixed calendar deadlines. The plan must be reviewed and amended, naming the next school or institution, by 15 February in the year of the transfer, or by 31 March where the move is from secondary school to a post-16 institution. Where a young person moves between post-16 institutions at another time of year, the review must happen at least 5 months before the move.
These deadlines exist so the next school is named in time to plan properly. Diary them a full term ahead, and if no review has been scheduled by the autumn of a transfer year, chase in writing.
When the review is late or cosmetic
The warning signs are familiar to many families: the anniversary passes silently, no updated reports appear, no professionals are invited or the plan is re-issued unchanged year after year while the child changes completely. If that is happening:
- Write to the local authority's SEN team, quote section 44 and ask for the review date in writing.
- Send your written views and evidence anyway, so the record shows what the review should have considered.
- Request a re-assessment if your child's needs have changed significantly.
- Use the council's complaints procedure if the cycle keeps slipping, attaching your dated correspondence.
The system is stretched, but the duty is not optional, and a short written chase that cites the section number tends to move things faster than any number of phone calls. The review exists so the plan serves the child your son or daughter is now, not the one they were when it was written.
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Frequently asked questions
How often must an EHC plan be reviewed?
Under section 44 of the Children and Families Act 2014 the local authority must review the plan within 12 months of it being made and then within every 12 months of the last review. You or the school can also request a re-assessment at any point if your child's needs have changed significantly.
Who has to be invited to the annual review meeting?
Regulation 20 of the SEND Regulations 2014 requires the review to include a meeting, and the invitations must include the parent or young person, the head teacher or principal, an officer of the local authority, a health care professional and a social care representative.
What happens if the council wants to change the plan after a review?
Regulation 22 requires the local authority to send you the plan with the proposed amendments and the evidence behind them, and to give you at least 15 days to make representations and request a school. If the amended final plan is still wrong, you can appeal sections B, F or I under section 51(2)(c).
What are the phase transfer deadlines?
In a phase transfer year the plan must be reviewed and amended, naming the next school, by 15 February, or by 31 March where the move is from secondary school to a post-16 institution. A move between post-16 institutions at another time needs a review at least 5 months before the move.