Education, Health and Care (EHC) Plan
Council for Disabled Children videos about EHC Plans, Person-centred Planning and Annual Reviews.
For any advice and queries
Please get in touch with the SEN Assessment Team, you can find their details on the Contact Us page
What is an 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
The EHC Plan will ...
- 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
Who is it for?
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
How to apply for an Education, Health and Care Plan assessment?
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
EHC Plan Assessment Flowchart-Timetable
The EHC Plan Flowchart outlines the process over the 20-week timescale
Assessment Process Explained
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
EHC Plan Exemplar and Checklist
- 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
Making Decisions?
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, Independent Travel Training and School Bus Timetable
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.
Young People in Custody
SEND Privacy Notice
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
Information about Personal Budgets, Direct Payments and Personal Assistants (PAs)
Personal Budgets and Direct Payments
Short Breaks Personal Budget
Wheelchair Personal Budget
Education Personal Budget
- Personal Budgets Policy
- Personal Budgets Summary for Parents and Young People
- Personal Budgets Easy Read Guide
What is a Personal Assistant (PA)?
A personal assistant works directly with one or more individuals, to support them with various aspects of their daily life so that they can live it in a way they choose. They’re usually employed directly by a person who needs care and support, and who manages and pays for this through a personal budget or with their own money. This person is their employer (and are often referred to as an ‘individual employer’). They can also be employed by a family member or representative, when the person they’re supporting doesn’t have the physical or mental capacity to be the employer. However, a personal assistant always works directly with the individual they’re supporting. It’s most likely that this should be through an employed arrangement, rather than being self-employed.
As a personal assistant you’re likely to be involved in many aspects of your employer’s life, and may be asked to provide support in the home, at leisure or at work. The opportunity to focus directly on the needs of an individual, and the diversity of the role, is what often attracts people to this type of work.
More information about Personal Budgets can be found on the Education, Health and Care Plan section
Positive Future Consultancy (PFC)
Positive Future Consultancy (PFC) is an organisation with many years experience working with children and adults with learning difficulties, disabilities and barriers to life and learning.
How can we help you to recruit a PA?
PFC will endeavour to support families through the sometimes very difficult process of recruiting and appointing the right PA for each family. Together with Halton Borough Council, the Disabled Children’s Service and the Direct Payments Team we aim to make the process as seamless as possible.
PFC will recruit, pre-interview, acquire DBS checks and train PA’s to a standard of readiness to be introduced to families who are looking for the right PA for them. We will have a bank of PA’s to choose from, enabling families to make a decision based on their needs and requirements. PFC will strive to enable PA’s to reach a set standard providing them with the tools they need to carry out the role of a PA.
PFC will provide the PA’s with access to:
- training and support including:
- Health and Safety
- Manual Handling
- Equal Ops
- First Aid
- information, advice and guidance
- help in matching them to the right family.
PFC will assist families to establish a chosen family member as a PA with all the checks, training and support as an independent PA.
PA Advert-Recruitment flyer
EHCP Feedback Form – Your Voice Counts
If your child has a Halton EHCP, please share your views and experience with us by completing our Feedback Form below, so we can better support children and young people with SEND, their parents and carers