Education, Health and Care (EHC) Plan

It is a person-centred plan that puts you (children, young people and families) at the centre of the assessment and planning process making sure your views are heard and understood to increase your choice and control

All Halton children and young people who have significant special educational needs and meet specific criteria within a graduated response, may undergo an Education Health and Care (EHC) Assessment, which could lead to an EHC Plan.

The EHC Plan is personalised to meet the needs and outcomes for each child or young person, what they want to achieve now and the future and focused on what is important for each child or young person

• Outcomes Toolkit can help planning ahead what you want to do at different ages
• Person Centred Planning Approaches
• EHC Plan Disclaimer

• be clear about how much things cost, have agreed timescales to make sure that it is updated and reviewed annually by the school/setting 
• transfer if still appropriate with your child or the young person if they change services, schools or leave school to go to college, work-related training or an apprenticeship
• cease when the education or training outcomes detailed in the Education, Health and Care Plan have been achieved
• not put children and young people at a disadvantage, it will meet the statutory obligations required under current legislation, including a right of appeal

It is for children and young people who have complex and severe special educational needs and disabilities and where an assessment of education, health and social care needs has been agreed by the professionals involved with child/young person. It is available from birth to age 25.

Guidance says EHC plan should be issued when the local authority considers the special educational needs of the child cannot be reasonably provided by a mainstream early years provider, school and/or post 16 institution

To make a request for an EHC assessment, the school/setting, parent/carer and young person should work together to submit an application using the forms in the boxes below.

Parents and carers also have the right to apply directly  – you can make a request however you wish. 

You can use the application form and supporting documents that you will find on the link here for the EHC Plan and Review Documents page.  Using these forms to submit your request help our officers to handle  all of the information efficiently.

If you have any queries, please contact the Assessment Team by email senat@halton.gov.uk​

Statutory Assessment Request Forms (Application)

• UPDATED Jan ’19 Application EHC Assessment by School/Setting
• UPDATED Jan ’19 Application EHC Assessment by Parent-Young Person or Other Setting

Guides/Template

• How-to-apply-for-an-EHC-Plan 
• Halton-EHCP-Blank-Template
• What to include in the EHC Plan

The EHC Plan Flowchart outlines the process over the 20-week timescale

An Assessment Co-ordinator will work together with you and your child or the young person and the other people involved:

• to say what’s working, what’s not and what you think needs to change
• gather information from the other people involved
• arrange a meeting for you all to agree the outcomes and how you think they can best be met
• to make the right decisions for you as a family

The whole process takes a maximum of 20 weeks during this period all the people involved will meet to decide what support you might be eligible for which will help meet the agreed outcomes

• EHCP Exemplar EHC Plans – Examples of Good Practice is to support the development of skills in writing good quality Education Health and Care (EHC) Plans
• IPSEA EHC Plan Checklist provides a helpful explanation of the different sections that are contained within an EHC Plan

• EHCP application, documents and Annual Review guidance/form

This Council for Disabled Children have produced a Decision Making Toolkit which can be used by social workers, health professionals, school, college staff, parents/carers, families and anyone working directly with children and young people to support them to make their own decisions and to participate as fully as possible in decisions made on their behalf.  The toolkit includes a Best Interests Checklist for assisting this process when supporting a young person that lacks capacity (Mental Capacity Act 2005 code of practice).

Planning Live

This was a 2-day workshop which the local authority hosted to allow several young people, their families and the different multi-agency professionals involved in the process to come together and review the EHC Plans.  The Video Clip below was produced from the day by the young people involved

School Travel Support and Bus Service information

More information including Home to School Assisted Transport and policies can be found on the Council website School Travel Support

• Parents and carers have a legal responsibility to ensure their compulsory school aged children are registered at a school and attend regularly
• Under section 508B of the Education Act 1996, the Council has a duty to ensure that in certain circumstances suitable travel solution is made for an eligible child/young person. This will be carried out, where necessary, to facilitate the child and young person’s attendance at a relevant qualifying school. A qualifying school is a school with places available that provides education appropriate to the age, ability and aptitude of the child, and any SEND that the child may have. The general duty is to provide assistance with transport for all children of compulsory school age if their nearest qualifying school is beyond 2 miles if the child is below the age of 8, or beyond 3 miles if the child is aged between 8 and 16. The Act applies to all children and young people who permanently live in Halton and attend a qualifying school named in their EHC Plan.
• These arrangements apply for home to school travel (usual place of school) and does not apply to travel between educational establishments during the school day.

Independent Travel Training

More information can be found on the Council website Independent Travel Training

• The Council provides this training to enable young people with SEND to travel independently to and from school, college and other social activities
• The training works with young people, parents, carers, schools and other appropriate individuals to provides trainees with their own personal travel programme

Bus Services

School bus timetable information is available or alternatively email the Neighbourhood Travel Team to request a timetable or for help to plan a journey.

The team work with colleagues and partners across Social Care, Health and Education to support young people aged 14-18 with complex needs going through transition.

If you have any problems referring, please email Transition.team@halton.gov.uk with all the relevant information regarding the young person.

New Online Referral Form for the Transition Team

Useful Documents

• Transition Team leaflet
• Transition Protocol 2022
• Halton My Transition Plan FINAL
• Transition Supported Assessment Questionnaire
• Transition Outcome Focused Review
• What does ‘Transition’ mean?

SEND Youth Custody Legal Framework

Halton Borough Council Services for Children and Young People with Special Educational Needs or Disabilities (SEND) collect and hold information about you in order to carry out its duties under the Children and Families Act 2014 in relation to statutory assessment processes and the ongoing monitoring of children and young people who have education, health and care plans.

For further information please see the SEND Privacy Notice

Short Breaks Personal Budget

• Short Breaks and Personal Budgets Guidance

Wheelchair Personal Budget

• Personal Wheelchair Budget Leaflet
• Personal Wheelchair Budget Information Leaflet

Education Personal Budget

• Personal Budgets Policy
• Personal Budgets Summary for Parents and Young People
• Personal Budgets Easy Read Guide