Your child or young person’s education, health and care (EHC) plan must be reviewed at least once a year, or every six months if your child is under 5 years. The date which the annual review should take place will be one year following their final EHC plan being issued, or one year following their last annual review.

Your child or young person’s school/setting will make arrangements to convene an annual review meeting and give you at least four weeks’ notice of the date/time that this will go ahead.

If your child or young person is not on roll at a school/ setting for any reason, the EHC plan coordinator involved in your child or young person’s case will make the necessary arrangements to organise the annual review meeting.

A request for any new or updated information/assessments/reports will be sent to any professionals and services involved in providing support to your child or young person four weeks before the annual review meeting. This information will be shared with everyone requested to attend the meeting two weeks before the annual review.

The annual review meeting will provide an opportunity for all those in attendance to provide any updates and important information related to your child or young person’s progress. It is important that your child or young person’s views are central to the process and, they should be invited to attend and supported to be part of the meeting.

If they do not feel able to attend the meeting, their views and wishes should be gathered prior to this and shared by the annual review chair or other chosen representative.

The annual review meeting will be led by a representative from your child or young person’s school/setting this will usually be the special educational needs coordinator (SENCO). All attendees will be provided with equal opportunity to share updates, contribute their views and make comments about the progress your child or young person has made towards achieving their outcomes, and whether the provision specified in the EHC plan is still suitable. All of the discussions we be formally recorded on a document called the AR4 form (record of review meeting) which will be completed by the annual review chair. The AR4 should make reference to any action points agreed and a recommendation about whether the EHC plan should be maintained, amended or ceased.

Within two weeks of the meeting, the AR4 should be shared with you to make sure that you are happy with the content.

Within four weeks of the meeting taking place, the Council will write to you and inform you of our decision to either:

• Maintain the EHC plan in its current format
• Amend the EHC plan
• End the EHC plan if it is felt that all of the child or young person’s outcomes have been met (without the need to set any further ones), their educational needs can be met without an EHC Plan being needed any longer or for any other reason outlined in the SEND Code of Practice.

If you are unhappy with our decision, the letter will contain further information about how to appeal decisions. Further information about how to appeal decisions, mediation and tribunals.

For more information, see what is an annual review of an education, health and socila care (EHC) plan (video) (external link).

Early annual reviews

An early annual review can be called at any time if there are concerns about your child's needs and/or progress.

If an early annual review is needed your child or young person’s school/setting or the council will aim to make arrangements for this at the earliest opportunity.

The early annual review will follow the same process for other annual reviews outlined above.

Phased transitions

We will amend your child’s EHC plan when they transition from one phase of education to another. This means when they move between the different stages of education, from:

• An early years setting to a primary school
• Primary to secondary school
• Secondary school to a post 16 institution.

If you child is transitioning from a school to a post 16 institution, the EHC Plan will be reviewed and amended by 31st March in the calendar year of the transfer. For all other transitions, the deadline is 15th February in the calendar year of the transfer.

If your child is already attending a post-16 institution and it is proposed that they move from one setting to another, we will review and amend the EHC plan at least five months before that transfer takes place (where enough notice is provided).

When we amend your child or young person’s EHC plan, we will state in section I the name of the school or setting your child or young person will continue to attend until the end of the academic year, as well as the name the school/ setting or the type of setting that they will attend from the start of the next academic year.

We will finalise the amended EHC plan within eight weeks of sending you a copy of the amended EHC plan.