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An EHCP Annual Review is not just an annual meeting.
It’s the statutory process for looking properly at whether your child or young person’s Education, Health and Care Plan still reflects their needs, whether the provision written into it’s actually being delivered, whether that provision remains appropriate, and whether their current placement is still capable of meeting need.
An EHCP can look entirely reasonable on paper and still be failing a child in practice.
Needs change. Children develop. Difficulties become clearer. Attendance can deteriorate. Anxiety can increase. Provision can quietly fall away. New professional recommendations can be made and never find their way into the plan. A placement that was once considered suitable can stop being able to meet need.
The Annual Review is where those issues should be brought together.
Not to just discuss how the year has gone, but to ask a much more important question:
Does this EHCP still accurately describe this child, and is it securing what they actually need now?
What is an EHCP Annual Review?
An EHCP Annual Review is the statutory process for reviewing a child or young person’s Education, Health and Care Plan, required by section 44 of the Children and Families Act 2014 and the SEND Regulations 2014, with guidance in chapter 9 of the SEND Code of Practice.
It should look at the child’s current special educational needs, their progress towards the outcomes in the plan, whether those outcomes are still appropriate, whether the special educational provision remains suitable and sufficient, and whether anything in the EHCP now needs to change.
It should also consider whether the current placement remains appropriate.
For young people in Year 9 and above, preparation for adulthood should also form part of the review.
The Annual Review is a process, not just the meeting.
There should be preparation before the meeting. Information and professional advice should be gathered and circulated. The meeting should consider that evidence and make clear recommendations. The Local Authority must then make a formal decision about what happens to the EHCP.
How often should an EHCP be reviewed?
An EHCP must be reviewed at least every 12 months.
The first review should take place within 12 months of the plan being finalised, and subsequent reviews should take place within 12 months of the previous review.
Some children, particularly where needs are changing quickly, may require more frequent review.
There are also separate requirements around phase transfer. Where a child or young person is moving between key phases of education, the review and amendment process needs to take place early enough for the plan to name the appropriate next placement within the relevant statutory timescale.
When should you ask for an early Annual Review?
A year is a long time in the life of a child whose needs are changing. If the EHCP has fallen significantly behind the reality of what is happening, waiting for the next scheduled review may make little sense.
An early Annual Review may be appropriate where a child’s needs have changed significantly, attendance has deteriorated, they are experiencing prolonged non-attendance or emotionally based school avoidance, their emotional wellbeing has worsened, repeated suspensions or exclusion concerns have arisen, important new professional evidence has become available, Section F provision is not being delivered, or the current placement no longer appears able to meet need.
It may also be appropriate where the child is technically still attending but there is increasing evidence that the environment is no longer meeting their needs.
The important difference is between an informal meeting with school and an early statutory Annual Review.
A meeting can be useful for discussing immediate concerns, but it does not necessarily trigger the statutory Annual Review process or require the Local Authority to make the formal decision that follows it.
If what is needed is a formal review of the EHCP, say so clearly.
If you are unsure whether to ask for an early review, a SEND Advice Call can help you decide.
What are the EHCP Annual Review timescales?
Parents cannot meaningfully consider a substantial bundle of professional evidence if it arrives the night before. Professionals cannot properly consider each other’s advice either. If important evidence is missing, raise it before the meeting. If professional advice has been obtained but has not been circulated, ask for it.
If the school or Local Authority holds relevant information about provision, progress, attendance or the suitability of placement, that information should not first emerge when everybody joins the meeting. Preparation is part of the process.
EHCP Annual Review timeline
| Stage | Deadline | What should happen |
|---|---|---|
| Before the meeting | At least two weeks before | The information and advice gathered for the Annual Review should be circulated, and the required notice of the meeting should have been given. This is the point at which parents should be reading the evidence against the current EHCP and identifying what needs to be discussed. |
| The Annual Review meeting | Within 12 months of the plan being finalised or last reviewed | The meeting should consider the child or young person’s current needs, progress, outcomes, evidence, special educational provision and whether amendments to the EHCP are required. Where the young person is in Year 9 or above, preparation for adulthood should also be considered. |
| Review report | Within two weeks after the meeting | A written report should be prepared and circulated setting out the recommendations arising from the review. Where there are differences of opinion, those differences should not simply disappear from the record. |
| Local Authority decision | Within four weeks of the meeting | The Local Authority must notify the parent or young person of its formal decision: maintain the EHCP without amendment, amend the EHCP, or cease to maintain the EHCP. |
| If the EHCP is to be amended | Amendment notice as soon as possible | The Local Authority sends a copy of the existing EHCP with a notice setting out the proposed amendments. You have at least 15 days to comment, ask for a meeting and request a particular school or setting. |
| Final amended EHCP | Within 8 weeks of the amendment notice | The Local Authority must issue the final amended EHCP, or tell you it has decided not to amend. Either way, the letter should set out your rights of mediation and appeal. |
If your child is moving between key phases of education, the amended EHCP naming the next school must be issued by 15 February in the year of transfer (31 March for a move into post-16 education), under regulation 18 of the SEND Regulations 2014.
In practice, they are often missed. Department for Education figures show that in 2025, only 47.6% of families whose child had an Annual Review were told the Local Authority’s decision within the four-week deadline.
A meeting followed by months of silence is not a completed Annual Review process.
How to prepare for an EHCP Annual Review
Most Annual Review advice starts with the meeting. We think that starts in the wrong place.
Do not start with the meeting agenda. Start with the EHCP.
Take the current plan and read it from beginning to end. Then place it alongside the most recent professional evidence and look at what is actually happening for the child now.
You are testing three things against each other:
- What does the EHCP say?
- What does the evidence now say?
- What is actually happening in practice?
The gaps between those three things will usually tell you where the Annual Review needs to focus.
Our step-by-step guide, How to Prepare for an EHCP Annual Review, walks through gathering evidence, writing your parental views and checking each section of the EHCP.
What happens during an EHCP Annual Review meeting?
The meeting should be purposeful. It should not become a general update about how the child has been recently. The discussion should keep returning to the EHCP.
- What has changed?
- What remains accurate?
- What no longer reflects the child?
- What progress has been made towards the outcomes?
- What has enabled that progress?
- What provision has actually been delivered?
- What has not been delivered?
- What does the new professional evidence show?
- Are further assessments required?
- Are the current outcomes still appropriate?
- Does the placement remain suitable?
- What amendments are actually being recommended?
Important points should not be left sitting in vague discussion. If the school believes it can no longer meet need, that position should be properly recorded. If parents disagree with a recommendation, their position should also be recorded. The clearer the recommendations are at the meeting, the harder it is for them to become lost afterwards.
Do parents need to attend an EHCP Annual Review?
Parents should be invited to the Annual Review. Where possible, attending gives you the opportunity to contribute evidence, hear professional views, correct factual inaccuracies, challenge assumptions and ensure the amendments you are seeking are properly discussed. But attending does not mean agreeing. You do not have to accept every statement or recommendation made during the meeting simply because you were present. If you disagree, say so. And ask for your position to be accurately recorded.
What happens after the Annual Review?
The meeting does not change the EHCP. The meeting makes recommendations. The Local Authority makes the formal decision. There are only three possible outcomes.
- The Local Authority can decide to maintain the EHCP in its current form.
- It can decide to amend it.
- Or it can decide that the EHCP should cease to be maintained.
| Decision | What it means | Can you appeal? |
|---|---|---|
| Maintain | The EHCP stays as it is. | Yes: against Sections B, F and I |
| Amend | Changes are proposed through an amendment notice, then a final amended EHCP is issued. | Yes: against the final amended EHCP |
| Cease | The Local Authority proposes to stop maintaining the EHCP. | Yes: against the decision to cease |
In 2025, 59% of completed Annual Reviews in England led to the EHCP being amended, 35.5% kept it unchanged and 1% ended it (Department for Education).
That means a meeting can feel extremely positive and still result in a disappointing decision afterwards. Equally, everybody in the room may agree that substantial change is required, but until those changes actually appear in the legal document, the EHCP itself remains unchanged.
Do not measure the success of an Annual Review by how encouraging the conversation felt. Measure it by what happens to the plan.
What if the Local Authority does not amend the EHCP?
The Local Authority may decide to maintain the EHCP without amendment. That does not mean you have to agree that the existing plan is suitable. If you believe the needs in Section B remain incomplete, Section F remains insufficient or the placement in Section I remains inappropriate, the Local Authority’s formal decision can give rise to appeal rights.
Parents do not have to wait indefinitely for the Local Authority to voluntarily reconsider a plan that they believe is wrong. The formal decision following the Annual Review is what opens the route to challenge.
Related: EHCP Content & Placement Appeal support
What happens if the Local Authority agrees to amend the EHCP?
This is often the point at which parents understandably feel relieved.
But: “We will amend the EHCP” is not the same thing as “we will make all of the amendments required by the evidence.”
If the Local Authority decides to amend, regulation 22 of the SEND Regulations 2014 says it must send you the existing EHCP with an amendment notice setting out the proposed changes. You have at least 15 days to respond, and the final amended EHCP must be issued within 8 weeks of that notice.
The amended plan still needs to be checked carefully. What has changed? What has not? Has anything important disappeared? Has strong professional wording become vague? Have new needs been included without corresponding provision? Has provision been diluted? Are Sections B and F aligned? Has the placement issue actually been addressed? Has a recommendation made during the Annual Review genuinely made its way into the amended EHCP?
An amended EHCP should be read as a complete document, not simply checked for tracked changes. Important wording can be lost during the amendment process, and a change to one section can create inconsistencies elsewhere. That is why an amended EHCP needs to be checked against the evidence, not simply against the previous version of the plan.
Related: EHCP Draft Checking support
Related guide: 7 Things to Check Before You Accept a Draft EHCP
When the EHCP no longer reflects your child’s needs
“Laura was absolutely fundamental in helping us navigate this. She carried out a thorough review and produced a detailed working draft, carefully evidencing the changes that were needed.”
GS, parent supported by The SEND Consultancy Group
GS came to us at a particularly difficult point in her six-year-old son’s EHCP review. Many of the changes that were needed had not been included and, in some areas, the wording of his existing plan had actually been diluted.
We went back through the professional evidence within his original EHCP, identified important information and recommendations that had not been carried forward, and prepared a detailed working draft setting out and evidencing the amendments required, which also incorporated SEND law, legislation and Case Law.
The amendments were sent back and The Local Authority ultimately agreed all of the changes requested. The strengthened EHCP then contributed to an independent specialist placement being agreed for her son at the review stage.
Sometimes the issue is not that nothing has changed.
It’s that the plan has changed, but not enough or not in the way the evidence requires.
Get Support With an EHCP Annual Review.
What if the Local Authority proposes to cease the EHCP?
The Local Authority may decide that it no longer considers an EHCP necessary. If you disagree, that decision should be looked at carefully. The question is not whether the child has made progress or whether they are approaching a particular age or stage. The issue is whether it remains necessary for special educational provision to be made in accordance with an EHCP. A decision to cease maintaining the plan can give rise to a right of appeal.
Related: SEND Appeals support →
What if you disagree with the outcome of an Annual Review?
There are several ways an Annual Review can leave matters unresolved.
- The Local Authority may refuse to amend.
- It may agree to amend but fail to reflect the professional evidence properly.
- Sections B or F may remain inadequate.
- Section I may continue to name a placement that you believe is unsuitable.
- Important recommendations may have been omitted.
- Or the Local Authority may propose to cease the EHCP.
What happens next depends on the formal decision that has actually been made.
You do not appeal because the meeting was difficult or because you disagreed with something somebody said.
Appeal rights arise from the relevant formal Local Authority decision or from the contents of the final amended EHCP.
Understanding that difference helps parents focus their challenge in the right place. Our guide to what evidence helps most in a SEND appeal explains how to build it.
Appeals are often successful. In 2023–24, 95% of SEND Tribunal appeals that reached a decision were decided in favour of the family (Ministry of Justice figures, reported by Schools Week). If you do appeal, read what happens after you appeal to the SEND Tribunal.
Can you change school at an EHCP Annual Review?
Placement is one of the issues that can be raised through an Annual Review. If the evidence shows that the current placement is no longer appropriate, parents can ask for Section I to change.
That does not mean the school changes because everybody discussed it in the meeting. The statutory amendment process still needs to follow. But the Annual Review is an important opportunity to put the evidence about placement formally on the table.
If you are seeking a different school or type of placement, be clear about why.
- What needs can the current placement not meet?
- What provision cannot it deliver?
- What is happening to attendance, access or wellbeing?
- What does the professional evidence say?
- And what does the alternative placement offer that addresses those issues?
The strongest placement argument is not simply that another school feels preferable.
It’s that the evidence demonstrates why the current placement is no longer suitable and what is required instead.
EHCP Annual Review FAQs
Can I request an early EHCP Annual Review?
Yes. Where circumstances have materially changed or there is another good reason for the EHCP to be reviewed before its scheduled date, you can ask the Local Authority to carry out an early statutory Annual Review.
If that is what you are requesting, make clear that you are asking for an early statutory Annual Review, not simply an informal school meeting.
Can I ask for changes to the EHCP at the Annual Review?
Yes. One of the central purposes of the Annual Review process is to consider whether the EHCP remains appropriate and whether amendments are required. Requests for changes are strongest where they are clearly linked to current evidence.
How long does the Local Authority have after an EHCP Annual Review?
The Local Authority must notify the parent or young person of its decision within four weeks of the Annual Review meeting. It must decide whether to maintain the EHCP without amendment, amend it or cease to maintain it.
How long does it take to amend an EHCP after an Annual Review?
The Local Authority must tell you within four weeks of the meeting that it intends to amend. It then sends an amendment notice, you have at least 15 days to respond, and the final amended EHCP must be issued within 8 weeks of the amendment notice.
Can I appeal after an EHCP Annual Review?
You have rights of mediation and appeal to the SEND Tribunal. Appeal rights can arise where the Local Authority decides to maintain the EHCP without amendment, issues an amended final EHCP that remains unsuitable, or decides to cease maintaining the plan.
What if the Local Authority misses the Annual Review deadline?
The Annual Review process is governed by statutory timescales. If the Local Authority fails to complete the process or issue its decision within the required timeframe, this should be raised promptly. A delay is not an administrative inconvenience where it leaves a child operating under an EHCP that no longer reflects their needs. If the delay continues, a pre-action protocol letter can be the next step.
Need help preparing for an EHCP Annual Review?
An Annual Review should not simply confirm that another year has passed. It should test whether the EHCP still works.
- Whether it accurately identifies need.
- Whether the provision is sufficient.
- Whether that provision is actually being delivered.
- Whether the current placement remains appropriate.
- And whether the plan still reflects the child standing in front of us now.
At The SEND Consultancy Group, we support families before and after Annual Review.
We can review the existing EHCP against the current professional evidence, identify where needs or provision are no longer accurately reflected, help you formulate the amendments you are seeking and, where the Local Authority subsequently amends the EHCP, review what has actually changed.
Because the purpose of an Annual Review is not to make the paperwork look current.
It’s to make sure the plan is still capable of meeting the child’s needs.
