Moving in and out of Surrey

Moving to Surrey
Moving out of Surrey

Moving to Surrey

The key point to be aware of, is that you need to have proof of a Surrey address before you can apply for a school place for your child. This could be a:

Utility bill (gas, electricity, water)
Council Tax statement
Copy of a tenancy agreement signed by both landlord and tenant or
Solicitor's letter advising the completion date of a house purchase.

When finding a school within Surrey, it is always recommended that you visit as many schools as possible and ask the questions that are important to you. With regard to your child's Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND), you may find our information on choosing a school for a child with SEND useful.

You will find a directory of Surrey schools on Surrey County Council's website. Schools can be viewed by type and location and there is a section for schools which cater for SEND.

Currently living in the UK with an Education Health and Care Plan (EHCP)?

If your child already has an EHCP provided by your current Local Authority (LA), you will need to contact the relevant Surrey Special Educational Needs team, as soon as your Surrey address has been confirmed.

Once you move, the provision in your child's EHCP becomes the responsibility of Surrey County Council. Your old authority has 15 working days to transfer your EHCP to Surrey. If you give your old authority 15 working days' notice of your move, it must transfer the EHCP on the day of your move.

You retain your parental right to state a preference for a maintained mainstream or special school (whichever is specified in the EHCP). Surrey County Council must tell you within six weeks of the date of transfer when they will review the EHCP and whether they will reassess your child. Otherwise, the EHCP will remain the same, apart from the change of the name of school, until the next Annual Review.

A child with an EHCP will be automatically allocated a named SEN Case Officer.

Currently living in the UK with SEND but no EHCP?

All Surrey schools have statutory duties to support children with SEND and are able to do so. You will need to apply for a school place via the Surrey school's admission process.

If you are applying outside the normal admissions timetable, you will need to apply for an 'in year' admission and you can do this up to four weeks before you need the place.

The school will assess your child and may then decide to put support in place such as SEND/SEN Support to meet their needs. If the school does not agree that your child has special needs or needs additional support, please contact our service to discuss this further.

Whether or not you believe your child may qualify for an EHCP, it will be extremely useful for you to be able to provide up to date reports (within the last 18 months, or two years at the most) from any professionals who have been involved with your child's education or special educational needs. Other reports can also be useful, for example medical reports from a consultant paediatrician.

Families living overseas, who are looking to relocate to the UK

As a first step you may like to gain an understanding of the SEND system in England. Please see visit Surrey County Council's Local Offer website for a general overview.

The majority of children with SEND are supported within school via SEND Support Arrangements. Please see further information on SEND support in mainstream schools on our SEND Support page.

Many families relocating to the UK send their children to a local mainstream school whilst any assessments are carried out. Others choose to educate their child at home until the results of any assessments are confirmed, especially if they feel that their child would not cope in a mainstream school.

A small number of children with more complex needs are supported via a EHCP. The formal assessment process to receive an EHCP takes 20 weeks from the date the LA receives the request. It would be helpful to submit evidence with your request for assessment to show your child has a higher level of needs which cannot be met within schools' own resources.

If your child already has the equivalent of an EHCP in your country of residence and/or attends a special school, you should send copies of all the relevant paperwork to the appropriate Surrey County Council SEN Team, including any recent reports from professionals. The Council will then decide whether to base its own initial judgement on this paperwork, or whether to carry out its own assessments.

Special schools (for those with EHCPs)

Special school places are allocated annually for Key Stage transfer places, for example infant to junior, junior to senior; through a forum process. Children who require special school places and who arrive in Surrey outside of the Key Stage transfers can be considered by a Local Area Board which meets fortnightly. If your child is assessed and it is decided that their SEND can only be met in a special school but there are no maintained (Surrey) special school places available, the LA will then look at alternative provision.

It is important to note that if Surrey County Council issues an EHCP following the assessment, this by no means guarantees a special school place. The majority of children with EHCPs attend mainstream schools.

The placement panels for Surrey special schools take place between June and September and if this is something that was considered appropriate in your current authority, you are advised to speak to your SEN Case Officer as soon as possible following your move. Some families negotiate for their child to remain in their current school until a placement is found, to minimise disruption to them.

Moving out of Surrey

When a child or young person with an EHCP moves into a different LA area, Surrey must transfer the Educational Health Care Plan (EHCP) to the new LA.

The new LA may require proof of address before you can start applying for schools in their authority, such as:

Utility bill (gas, electricity, water)
Council Tax statement
Copy of a tenancy agreement signed by both landlord and tenant or
Solicitor's letter advising the completion date of a house purchase.

Currently living in the UK with an Education Health and Care Plan (EHCP)?

When moving to a new LA within England, it is important that you let Surrey County Council (your current SEN team) and your new LA (*new SEN team) know that you are moving, as soon as possible. This should be at least 15 working days beforehand, so that the transfer happens on the day of your move.

The EHCP transfer must take place on the day you move unless you have not given 15 days' notice. If you have not given notice the 15 days starts from the day you inform them of the move.

*If you are unsure of the details of your new LA's SEN team, you can check the details on their 'Local Offer' page.

What the new LA must do

Once you move, the provision in your child's EHCP becomes the responsibility of the new LA. As soon as the EHCP has transferred, the new LA has the same legal duties as if they had issued the EHCP themselves.

The new LA must tell you what it is going to do within six weeks of your move.

If the LA are not doing a full reassessment of your child's needs, it must review the plan before one of the following deadlines, whichever is the later:

Within 12 months of the previous review or
Within 12 months of the plan being made or
Within 3 months of the plan being transferred.

Your child should not be left without education in the meantime.

The requirement for the child or young person to attend the educational institution specified in the EHC plan continues after the transfer. However, where attendance would be impractical, the new authority must place the child or young person temporarily at an appropriate educational institution other than that specified – for example, where the distance between the child or young person's new home and the educational institution would be too great – until the EHC plan is formally amended. The new authority may not decline to pay the fees or otherwise maintain the child at an independent or non-maintained special school or a boarding school named in an EHC plan unless and until they have amended the EHC plan",

SEND Code of Practice, (9.159)

After a review or re-assessment, the new LA could decide to:

Keep the EHCP the same.
Make changes to the EHCP. You will have a chance to make representations about these changes and object to any amendments you disagree with in the same way you would after an annual review.
Cease to maintain the EHCP.

Whichever decision the LA makes, if you disagree with it you can appeal to the First-tier Tribunal.

Currently living in the UK with SEND but no EHCP?

All LA schools have statutory duties to support children with SEND and are able to do so. You will need to apply for a school place via the admissions processes which can be found on the LA's website or their Local Offer page.

If you are applying outside the normal admissions timetable, you will need to apply for an 'in year' admission and you can do this up to four weeks before you need the place.

Special schools (for those with EHCPs)

Special school places are allocated annually for Key Stage Transfer places, for example infant to junior, junior to senior; through a process put in place by the new LA. For details of this process in your new LA, you would need to contact the SEND team, as processes can vary from authority to authority.

It is important to note that if your new LA issues an EHCP following the assessment, this by no means guarantees a specialist school place. The majority of children with EHCPs attend mainstream schools.