Moving House with an EHCP: What Happens to the Plan

Updated 4 July 2026 · Legal citations verified against legislation.gov.uk

Families who fought for months to get an EHC plan often feel a very specific dread when a house move appears on the horizon: the fear of starting the whole battle again in a new council area. Take a breath. The law does not make you start again. The plan moves with your child, the new local authority inherits it with full legal force and there are clear rules about what the new authority can and cannot do. This guide explains the transfer rule, the practical steps that make it go smoothly and what happens about schools in the new area.

The rule: regulation 15

Regulation 15 of the SEND Regulations 2014 governs what happens when a family moves between local authority areas in England. The plan transfers to the new authority. The transfer takes effect on the day of the move or, where the new authority was not aware of the move in advance, within 15 working days of it becoming aware. From the transfer date, the new authority is treated as if it had made the plan itself and must maintain it.

That last phrase is the one to hold on to. The plan does not become provisional, "pending review" or "subject to acceptance". There is no gap during which your child has no plan. The legal protection is continuous.

What "as if it had made it" actually means

Maintaining a plan is not a filing exercise. Under section 42 of the Children and Families Act 2014, the authority that maintains a plan must secure the special educational provision specified in it, and the responsible health commissioning body must arrange the specified health provision. On transfer, that duty lands on the new authority in full. The speech and language sessions, the teaching assistant hours, the specialist input written into section F: from the transfer date, delivering them is the new council's legal job.

The review cycle continues as well. Section 44 requires the plan to be reviewed regularly, and a house move does not reset your child's entitlement to have the plan kept up to date. If a review was already due, the move is a reason to hold it promptly, not to postpone it.

Before the move: three practical steps

1. Tell both authorities in writing. Write to your current SEN team and the new area's SEN team with the moving date and the new address. The 15 working day rule in regulation 15 turns on the new authority becoming aware of the move, so a dated email removes any argument about when the clock started.
2. Keep your own complete set of documents. Do not rely on councils posting files to each other. Keep the final plan, every appendix and every piece of advice gathered during the assessment. Section K of the plan lists the advice obtained, so you can check your set against it and spot anything missing.
3. Read the new council's Local Offer. Every local authority publishes a Local Offer describing SEN services, schools and contacts in its area. An hour on the new council's Local Offer site before you move tells you who to write to, what schools exist and how the area organises support.

After the move: pin the transfer down

Once you have moved, write to the new authority again: confirm the date of the move, confirm that it now maintains the plan under regulation 15 and ask for the name of your case officer. Ask the new authority to confirm in writing that it has the full plan and appendices. Keep dated copies of everything in both directions. Most transfers go through without drama; the paper trail is for the minority that do not.

If the new authority wants its own assessment

A new authority sometimes decides it wants to carry out its own EHC needs assessment rather than simply continue with the plan as written. It is allowed to take that view, but two protections matter.

First, the plan remains in force throughout. An assessment does not suspend the plan or the section 42 duty to deliver what section F says. Second, an assessment is not an excuse to re-run everything from scratch: the authority must not seek new advice where advice already exists and you, the authority and the person who gave the advice all agree it remains sufficient (this mirrors the advice rules in regulation 6, under which the authority must also seek advice from any person you reasonably request). If the new authority then proposes amendments, regulation 22 requires it to send you the plan plus the proposed amendments with the supporting evidence, and to give you at least 15 days to make representations and request a school.

If the process ends somewhere you disagree with, the appeal rights under section 51(2) are unchanged: the description of needs in section B, the provision in section F and the school named in section I can all be challenged at the First-tier Tribunal (SEND).

Schools in the new area

The plan arrives naming your child's old school in section I, which distance has usually made impractical. The new authority needs to arrange a placement in its area, and you have the same rights over that choice as you had when the plan was first made. You can request a school from the section 38 list: a maintained school, a maintained nursery, an Academy, a further education institution, a non-maintained special school or a section 41-approved independent school. The authority must tell you where to find information about available schools and give you at least 15 days to make representations and to ask for a meeting.

Visit schools quickly, ask each one specifically how it would deliver the provision in section F and put your request in writing. If you end up disagreeing with the school the new authority names, section I is appealable, and where the appeal concerns only the school named there is no need for a mediation certificate (section 55). Remember too that home to school transport is run by the new council under its own rules, separately from the plan; our school transport guide explains how to apply.

Moving in a transfer year

One timing note. If your child is in a year group approaching a phase transfer, the regulation 18 deadlines still exist: the plan must be reviewed and amended naming the next school by 15 February in the year of transfer, or 31 March for a move from secondary school to a post-16 institution. If your house move lands near those dates, flag it early and in writing with both authorities so the phase transfer work does not fall between two councils.

Frequently asked questions