Here are our SENDCo’s top tips for getting an EHCP.
- Parents OR school can apply for an EHCP. If your school won’t apply, put in an application yourself and school will then be legally required to provide their evidence and information. Doctors cannot apply.
- Get your evidence ready. Collect anything and everything you can do and submit it together. Don’t leave the EHCP reviewer to access evidence, send it all to them with the application – they just don’t have the time to put to each and every one that comes across their desk.
- Even if someone is coping with interventions that are in place, do not assume that these would be able to continue and/or be replicated at the next setting they move to, for example moving on to a new school. Be clear about what your young person needs and what life is like without the interventions.
- Give context and timelines – be really thorough with what has happened and when. Don’t just think about what’s happening at the moment.
- Likewise, make sure that you provide information about all areas of need as this is often left off, and can be one of the reasons that people are not successful.
There’s a lot of information on completing forms and applying for your EHCP on the Leeds Sendiass website.