EHCP guidance and review support for parents
Draft EHCP Review: What to Check Before You Respond
When you receive a draft EHCP, compare it with the assessment reports before you respond. Check that every special educational need is described and that the provision explains clearly what support will be delivered.
Receiving a draft Education, Health and Care Plan can feel like progress. But the detail matters: missing needs, vague provision and recommendations lost from professional reports can affect how useful the final plan will be.
This guide gives you a section-by-section checklist, examples of clearer wording and a practical way to organise amendments. If you would like help, School of Diversity also provides independent draft EHCP review and amendment support.
What do you need to review a draft EHCP?
Read the draft alongside the evidence used to prepare it. A plan can sound supportive while leaving out important findings or weakening recommendations.
Bring together:
- the complete draft EHCP and covering correspondence;
- all advice and reports listed in Section K;
- your original parent representations;
- your child’s views and relevant updates;
- school records, SEN Support plans and review information;
- relevant health and social care advice;
- any placement information you want considered.
Ask for missing advice promptly. Note the document title, date and relevant page whenever you identify an omission or inconsistency.
Start with needs and provision
Review the whole plan, but prioritise significant issues: missing needs, missing provision, unclear delivery and inconsistency with professional evidence.
Correct names, dates and factual errors too, while keeping the main amendments easy to identify.
Draft EHCP checklist: what to check in each section
| Section | What to check |
|---|---|
| A: Views, interests and aspirations | Does it reflect your child’s strengths, experiences, wishes and aspirations, alongside parent views? Is it personal and accurate? |
| B: Special educational needs | Are all identified SEN described, including their practical impact? Does it explain needs rather than simply list diagnoses? |
| C: Health needs | Are health needs related to SEN recorded accurately? Is relevant clinical advice reflected? |
| D: Social care needs | Are social care needs related to SEN or disability properly considered and described? |
| E: Outcomes | Are outcomes meaningful, individual and reviewable? Are they distinguished from the support required to achieve them? |
| F: Special educational provision | Is there provision for every SEN in Section B? Is delivery sufficiently specific and normally quantified? |
| G: Health provision | Does it identify the health provision reasonably required by the learning difficulties or disabilities resulting in SEN? |
| H1 and H2: Social care provision | Check the relevant statutory social care provision and other social care provision reasonably required, with appropriate advice where needed. |
| I: Placement | For a first draft following assessment, the name and type of placement should be left blank. Use the draft stage to make your placement request. |
| J: Personal budget | Where a personal budget is involved, check the arrangements, provision and outcomes it supports. You can ask about a personal budget at the draft stage. |
| K: Advice and information | Are the assessment reports accurately listed, dated and attached? Are significant findings reflected in the relevant main sections? |
Check the connection: needs, outcomes and provision
A need describes the difficulty. An outcome describes the change sought. Provision describes what adults or services will do to help.
For example, improving communication is an outcome. The specialist assessment, direct work, staff training and daily support needed to pursue it belong in provision. An outcome alone does not specify that support.
How to review Section F of a draft EHCP
Section F specifies the special educational provision. Once a final plan is issued, the local authority has a duty to secure the provision specified there.
For each need in Section B, identify the corresponding provision. If you cannot find it, record the gap.
Ask these questions:
- What support, teaching or therapy will happen?
- How often will it be delivered?
- For how long will sessions or support last?
- Who will provide it, with what expertise?
- What level of individual or group support is required?
- What environment or adjustments are necessary?
- How will specialist programmes be implemented and reviewed?
Look carefully at open-ended wording
Phrases such as “access to”, “regular”, “as required”, “opportunities for” or “up to” can leave delivery unclear. They are reasons to examine the provision, rather than proof that every sentence using them is unlawful.
Necessary flexibility should be explained clearly. Where support depends on a trigger, ask who identifies that trigger, what response follows and whether a minimum level of provision is needed.
Check therapy is in the correct section
Provision that educates or trains a child or young person is treated as special educational provision, even when a health professional delivers it. Check the purpose of the intervention rather than relying only on the professional’s job title.
If relevant therapy appears only in health provision or an appendix, seek clarification about whether it should be specified in Section F.
Examples of clearer EHCP provision
These examples illustrate the detail to look for. The amount and type of provision must be supported by your child’s evidence; do not copy the figures as a standard entitlement.
| Broad wording | What needs clarifying? | Illustrative detail |
|---|---|---|
| “Access to literacy support.” | The intervention, frequency, duration, group size and staff expertise. | A specified literacy programme for 20 minutes, four times weekly, individually, delivered by a member of staff trained in that programme. |
| “Regular movement breaks.” | Planned opportunities, additional support when signs of overload occur and adult responsibility. | A schedule informed by professional advice, stating frequency, duration, location and how an adult supports access. |
| “Small-group teaching.” | Maximum group size, purpose, lessons or sessions covered and staffing. | A defined maximum group size for the identified intervention, with session length, weekly frequency and the required teaching expertise. |
| “Support with transitions.” | Which transitions, preparation and adult involvement. | A named staff role providing specified preparation and support at the transitions identified in the evidence. |
What if the professional report is vague too?
Ask for clarification. A parent can identify the questions left unanswered, but the appropriate response is not to invent therapy hours or staffing ratios unsupported by the evidence.
Explain what detail is needed and ask the authority to obtain sufficient advice to specify appropriate provision.
Compare professional recommendations with the draft
Work through each relevant report and highlight findings about needs separately from recommendations about support. Then locate where each appears in the plan.
- Identify the finding. Record the report, date, page and exact point.
- Find the corresponding need. Check whether Section B describes it accurately.
- Find the provision. Check whether Section F includes the relevant support.
- Check for lost detail. Look for missing frequency, duration, expertise or environmental requirements.
- Explain discrepancies. Identify omissions, conflicting advice or wording requiring clarification.
A report being attached in Section K does not mean that all relevant provision has been specified in Section F. Equally, not every sentence from every report needs to be copied into the plan.
Focus on an accurate description of needs and the provision required to meet them.
Explore EHCP evidence review and preparation if your documents are difficult to compare.
School preferences and Section I
In a first draft following assessment, the authority should not specify the placement name or type. The draft stage gives you an opportunity to request a school or other institution.
Identify your preference clearly and explain how it relates to your child’s needs and required provision. Where relevant, provide evidence about the environment, curriculum or specialist support.
Does the authority have to name your preference?
Certain categories of school and institution carry a statutory right to request them. The authority must apply the relevant legal test, including the statutory exceptions. The position differs for independent settings outside those categories.
A consultation response is important evidence, but it is not by itself the final legal decision. Ask for reasons and advice if your preference is disputed.
Review needs and provision alongside placement
Keep Sections B and F under review while considering schools. The plan should describe your child’s needs and necessary provision, rather than simply the resources available in a proposed placement.
For more detailed help, explore our EHCP placement support .
Use an amendments table to organise your response
A numbered table makes requests easier to follow. Distinguish factual corrections, missing needs and changes to provision.
| Reference | Issue | Requested change | Evidence and reason |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Section B, page [ ] | [Need missing or inaccurately described] | [Suggested wording or clarification requested] | [Report, author, date, page and relevant finding] |
| 2. Section F, page [ ] | [Provision omitted or unclear] | [Support detail required] | [Recommendation and explanation of the gap] |
| 3. Section K | [Missing report or incorrect date] | [Document to add or detail to correct] | [Document title and date] |
If you also mark up a copy of the draft, explain your editing convention and retain the original unchanged. Use clear filenames and version dates.
Identify priority amendments first. Ask the authority to explain any disagreement with significant requests.
Sample email responding to a draft EHCP
Adapt this template and attach your amendments. Include only requests relevant to your circumstances.
Subject: Draft EHCP representations — [child’s name and date of birth]
Dear [case officer],
Thank you for sending the draft EHCP dated [date]. Please treat this email and the attached amendments as my representations on the draft.
My main concerns are:
- [Priority issue about identified needs.]
- [Priority issue about provision.]
- [Other significant omission or inconsistency.]
The attached table identifies the relevant sections, requested changes and supporting report references. Please consider these alongside [child’s name]’s views and the assessment advice.
[If applicable: Please provide the missing advice listed below and confirm how I can make further representations once it has been supplied.]
[If applicable: I would like a meeting to discuss the draft and the proposed amendments.]
[If applicable: My requested placement is [name and type]. My reasons and supporting information are attached. Please confirm the consultation arrangements.]
Please confirm receipt, explain any significant amendments you do not accept and confirm the next steps and expected date for issuing the final plan.
Kind regards,
[Your name]
[Contact details]
What happens after you respond?
The authority considers your representations and any placement request before finalising the plan. It may discuss changes or provide revised wording.
Check revised wording carefully
Compare it with your amendment list. A concern may have been partly addressed while important detail remains missing. Keep a record of unresolved points.
The first-plan timetable still matters
Where an initial assessment leads to an EHCP, the final plan must normally be issued within 20 weeks of the original assessment request, subject to limited statutory exceptions.
Discussions should not continue indefinitely without clarity about finalisation. Different timescales apply when an existing plan is being amended.
If the final plan still contains disputed wording
Read the final decision letter promptly. You may have a right to appeal the description of SEN, special educational provision or placement.
A draft plan itself is not ordinarily the plan you appeal. Do not assume further discussions or a complaint pause the deadline following a final decision.
Mediation requirements depend on the issues appealed. Seek advice and read the current tribunal guidance.
Explore our EHCP mediation support and SEND Tribunal support .
Frequently asked questions about draft EHCP reviews
How long do I have to respond to a draft EHCP?
You must be given at least 15 days to make representations. Check the accompanying notice and ask promptly if you need clarification or additional time.
Should I only check Section F?
No. Review the complete plan. Sections B and F are particularly important because needs and provision must connect. Outcomes, health and social care information, placement and assessment reports also need attention.
Can class size or group size be included?
Where the evidence establishes that a particular group size or teaching arrangement is necessary special educational provision, request clear wording supported by that evidence. A general preference for smaller classes does not establish the requirement.
Is “access to support” always unlawful?
Wording must be considered in context. The concern is whether the plan specifies what support must actually be provided. Ask for clarification where delivery remains uncertain.
What if professional reports disagree?
Identify the disagreement and ask how it has been resolved. Consider dates, settings, assessment methods and support available. Further clarification may be needed rather than selecting wording without explaining the evidence.
Do I have to agree before the plan is finalised?
The authority must consider representations, but finalisation does not depend on parental agreement with every part of the plan. If disputes remain in the final plan, check your appeal rights promptly.
Can I get free help reviewing the draft?
Your local SEND information, advice and support service can offer free guidance. Paid review support is an option where you want help comparing reports, identifying gaps and preparing representations.
School of Diversity draft EHCP review services
We compare the draft with agreed professional evidence, identify significant omissions or unclear provision and help prepare practical amendment requests.
Draft EHCP Review and Recommendations — £375
For parents who want a detailed review and written representations to submit themselves.
- Review of the draft and agreed evidence.
- Identification of missing needs and provision.
- Review of unclear or unquantified wording.
- Proposed amendments and parent representations.
- Consultation and an agreed revision round.
Enhanced Draft EHCP Advocacy — £595
For parents who also want support through the amendment discussion and revised-plan stage.
- The review and recommendations package.
- Review of the authority’s response.
- Preparation for an amendment discussion.
- Agreed online meeting support where needed.
- A further amendment round and revised-draft review.
- Initial review of the final plan.
Document limits, turnaround, meeting arrangements and revision rounds are confirmed in your agreement. Tribunal registration or ongoing appeal management is a separate service.
See our current support fees and package details .
What to include when you contact us
- When you received the draft and your response date.
- Whether this is a first plan or an amended plan.
- Your main concerns and any placement issue.
- Which reports are available or missing.
Tell us about your deadline first so we can confirm whether a review can be completed in time.
Received a draft EHCP and unsure what to change?
We can help you compare the wording with the evidence, identify priority amendments and prepare a clear response.