Annual reviews

Introduction

The Annual Review is the statutory process of looking at the needs, provision and outcomes specified in an Education Health and Care Plan (EHCP) and deciding whether these need to change. The first review of the EHCP must be held and concluded within 12 months of the EHCP being finalised. Following Reviews must be held and concluded within 12 months of the previous review.

To conclude an Annual Review all the following steps, not just the meeting, must be followed:

• Information must be gathered from you and from professionals about your child. This must be circulated to all involved two weeks before the meeting.
• An annual review meeting must take place to discuss your child and the EHCP (this is the meeting itself).
• After the meeting the school must prepare a report of their recommendations and circulate it to everyone who attended, and the local authority if they did not attend.
• The local authority must consider this report and the recommendations.
• The local authority must then notify you of their decision within four weeks of the meeting. This decision would be to either, cease the EHCP, amend the EHCP or keep it as it is.
• There is a right of appeal at this stage.

An annual review must still happen if you have a live appeal.

The Independent Provider of Special Education Advice (IPSEA) provide information on the various stages of annual reviews (PDF).