Who qualifies, what the law actually says, and what to do when the system lets you down. No jargon that isn't explained; no legal claim without its source.
Updated August 2026 · 9 min read · Reviewed against the SEND Code of Practice 2015
An Education, Health and Care Plan is a legal document that sets out your child's special educational needs, the outcomes they should achieve, and — crucially — the specific provision that must be put in place to support them. It is issued by your local authority and is legally binding once finalised.
Unlike school-level SEN support, an EHCP is enforceable: the local authority has a legal duty under section 42 of the Children and Families Act 2014 to deliver every provision named in Section F.
The one sentence to remember: an EHCP is not just a document — it is a legal entitlement. If provision in Section F is not delivered, the local authority is breaking the law.
There is no list of qualifying conditions and no diagnosis requirement. The legal test, set out in section 36 of the Children and Families Act 2014, asks whether your child has (or may have) special educational needs, and whether it may be necessary for provision to be made through a plan.
Anyone can request an EHC needs assessment — parents, carers, the school, a GP or a social worker. You do not need the school's permission, and you do not need a solicitor. You write to the local authority's SEND team directly.
The local authority must respond within six weeks. If it agrees to assess, the full process — from your original request to the final plan being issued — must be completed within 20 weeks. In practice, only 46.4% of plans nationally are issued inside that deadline, which is why keeping your own timeline matters.
The most common mistake is waiting. The local authority has statutory deadlines. Every week you wait without chasing is a week of entitlement your child is not receiving.
A refusal to assess is not the end. You can request mediation, and you can appeal to the First-tier SEND Tribunal within two months of the decision letter. Parents win the overwhelming majority of tribunal appeals — most refusals do not survive scrutiny.
Pathway was built specifically for this process, by people who have been through it. It starts at £12.99 a month, with a 14-day money-back guarantee: the qualification check, evidence checklist, application builder, quality score and council-response decoder are all included.
Five minutes, mapped to the legal test — included in every plan.