Criteria for Education, Health and Care Needs Assessment or Plan
An Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) is a legal document which describes a child or young person’s special educational needs, the support they need and the outcomes they would like to achieve.
Many children and young people with special educational needs or disabilities will have their educational needs met by local mainstream early year’s providers, schools or colleges. For some children and young people, however, an EHC needs assessment may be necessary to identify whether they need support that is additional and different to that ordinarily available and which may need to be provided in accordance with an EHCP.
The requirement for an EHC needs assessment is likely to be triggered when it becomes clear that the special educational provision required to meet a child or young person’s needs can no-longer be reasonably met within the resources or support normally available to early years providers, schools, post 16 providers and colleges.