Section 33 of the Children and Families Act 2014 says that a child or young person with an EHC plan must be educated in a mainstream setting or school unless:

• It is against the wishes of the child’s parent or the young person
• It would negatively affect the education of other children at the school, and there’s no reasonable way to stop that from happening.

You, or your child or young person can request a particular school or college to be in their education, health and care (EHC) plan and the council will consider this. This can be when their draft EHC plan is issued following an EHC assessment, their EHC plan is being amended after the annual review, or they are transitioning to another phase of education (such as when they move from primary to secondary school).

If you believe that your child’s school is no longer suitable, a review of the EHC plan should take place so that your views and those of any professionals working with your child or young person can be considered.

You and your child or young person can request any of the following types of setting, school or post-16 institution:

• A maintained school or nursery (mainstream or special)
• An academy (mainstream or special)
• An institution in the further education sector
• A non-maintained special school
• A section 41 school – a list of these schools is available from the Department for Education (external link).

Once we receive the name of the school/setting you wish to be named in your child or young person’s EHC plan, we will formally consult with that school. We will ask the school/setting to respond in 15 days of the request. However, this might not always be possible if the school is closed or if they need to meet with you and your child or young person to assess their needs further to determine the suitability of their provision.

At the time of the consultation, the Council may also consult with other schools/settings they consider may be able to meet your child or young person’s needs. It is important that you explore these settings as well as your preferred school/ setting. Non-engagement with suitability assessments may impact on the council’s ability to consider and name an appropriate school/setting in your child or young person’s EHC plan.

The final decision on the most suitable placement is based on the following three legal tests, set out in the Children and Families Act: The Council will be unable to name any school/setting in your child or young person’s EHC plan if one or more of the below applies:

• The setting is unsuitable for your child’s age, ability, aptitude or special educational needs
• The attendance of your child at that setting would be incompatible with the efficient education for others at the school and we are unable to prevent this incompatibility
• The attendance of the child at the school would be incompatible with the efficient use of resources.

When looking at whether the placement is incompatible with the efficient use of resources, we assess the total cost of the placement (including the costs of providing home to school transport and any other services such as speech and language services) and whether your proposed school would constitute reasonable public expenditure in comparison to the Council’s proposed school.

The maximum recommended travel time from home to school is 45 minutes each way for children and young people in a primary school and 75 minutes in a secondary school according to Child Advice Law. This will be taken into consideration as part of the Council’s decision about the most suitable school place.

When we write you to confirm the placement the Council intends to name in Section I of your child or young person’s EHC plan and we will provide further information about your right to appeal our decision.