EHCP Annual Review Checklist

An EHCP annual review is your single best opportunity each year to keep your child's plan accurate, enforceable, and matched to what they actually need. Skip it, sleepwalk through it, or rely on the school to lead it without input from you, and provision drifts. Take it seriously and you can use it to remove vague wording, add new therapies, change school placement, and lock in transition support years in advance.

This guide is a practical checklist for UK parents in 2026. It covers the legal framework, the timeline, the decisions made at the review, how to prepare, how to challenge a poor outcome, and what to push for at transition reviews. This is not legal advice. If you need legal advice for a specific case, contact IPSEA, SOS!SEN, or a SEND solicitor.

The legal basis: why annual reviews must happen

Annual reviews are not optional and they are not a school admin task. Under Section 44 of the Children and Families Act 2014, the local authority must review every EHCP at least once every 12 months. The detailed process is set out in regulations 18 to 22 of the Special Educational Needs and Disability Regulations 2014, and in chapter 9 of the SEND Code of Practice.

The clock runs from the date the plan was first finalised, or the last review meeting if later. That means if your child's plan was finalised on 15 September 2024, the next review must be held by 15 September 2025. If the LA misses that deadline, the review is overdue and the LA is in breach of duty. You can complain to the LA and ultimately to the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman.

The annual review timeline

The legal sequence is tight and worth knowing in full. The school usually hosts the meeting on behalf of the LA, but every step is the LA's legal responsibility:

• At least 2 weeks before the meeting: the school must circulate all advice and information (school report, professional reports, parent views, child's views) to everyone invited
• The meeting itself: review the current plan, agree what should change, capture decisions in writing
• Within 2 weeks of the meeting: the school must send a review report to the LA listing recommendations
• Within 4 weeks of the meeting: the LA must write to you and tell you whether they intend to amend, maintain, or cease the plan
• If amending: the LA must send a draft amended plan, you have 15 days to respond, and the final amended plan must be issued within 12 weeks of the review meeting

Diary every one of these dates. The 4-week notification and 12-week amendment deadlines are the two most commonly breached and the two most worth chasing.

The three decisions: amend, maintain, or cease

The LA's letter at week 4 must say which of three things they intend to do:

• Amend the plan - the most common outcome where new needs, new outcomes, or a new placement are agreed
• Maintain the plan unchanged - rare, and you have the right to appeal this to the SEND Tribunal if you believe the plan needs to change
• Cease the plan - the LA proposes to end the EHCP, usually because the young person is leaving education or the LA believes provision is no longer needed. Cease decisions are appealable to the SEND Tribunal and most appeals against cease decisions succeed

Whichever decision the LA proposes, you have the right to challenge it. See what to do when an EHCP is refused for the appeal route - the same mediation-then-tribunal process applies to annual review decisions.

What parents should prepare before the meeting

The strongest annual reviews are the ones where parents arrive with a written submission. Two weeks before the meeting, prepare and email the following to the school SENCo and your case officer:

• Your parental advice. A 2 to 3 page document covering: what is working, what is not working, new needs that have emerged in the last 12 months, your child's views, and the specific changes you want made to each section of the plan
• Updated evidence. Any new reports from therapists, paediatricians, CAMHS, the educational psychologist, or private assessments
• Attendance and incident data. If your child has had time off school, school refusal, anxiety incidents, suspensions, or sensory meltdowns - bring the numbers, not just descriptions
• A list of provision gaps. Where Section F lists a therapy or support that has not actually been delivered, document it. Annual review is when you get this fixed
• The exact wording you want changed. Do not say "Section F needs strengthening." Say "Section F currently reads X, we propose it should read Y"

The principle that runs through everything: specific, quantified, named. Vague provision (regular speech and language therapy) is unenforceable. Specific provision (45 minutes per week of 1:1 speech and language therapy delivered by a qualified therapist) is enforceable.

How to challenge a poor review outcome

If you receive the LA's week-4 letter and you do not agree with the decision, you have rights. Three things happen in parallel:

1. Respond in writing within 15 days if a draft amended plan has been sent. Set out exactly what you want changed and why, with evidence references
2. If the final amended plan still does not reflect your position, you have two months from the date of the final plan to lodge a tribunal appeal
3. Contact a SEND mediation adviser before the tribunal step. See our EHCP mediation process guide for how that works and when to skip it

The legal hook for an appeal is always the same: the plan must specifically describe the child's needs (Section B), the outcomes they should achieve (Section E), and the special educational provision that meets those needs (Section F). If any of those sections is vague, generic, or fails to address a known need, you have a strong case.

Transition reviews: Year 5, Year 9, and Year 11

Some annual reviews are more important than others. Three in particular are "transition" reviews and need extra planning:

Year 5 review (age 9 to 10): planning for secondary school

This review starts the conversation about which secondary school will be named in the EHCP. You need to start visiting schools early in Year 5, identifying which mainstream, resourced provision, or specialist setting meets your child's needs. The named school in Section I must be reviewed by 15 February of Year 6. Pushing for this conversation a full year earlier gives you time to challenge if the LA proposes the wrong setting.

Year 9 review (age 13 to 14): preparing for adulthood

From Year 9 onwards, the SEND Code of Practice requires every annual review to focus on "preparing for adulthood." Section 3 of the plan must now include outcomes in four areas: employment, independent living, community inclusion, and health. This is where you push for life skills, work experience, travel training, and (where relevant) a continuing health and social care package after age 18.

Year 11 review (age 15 to 16): post-16 placement

This review names the post-16 placement - sixth form, college, or specialist provision. The deadline for amending the plan with a named post-16 setting is 31 March of Year 11. Get this wrong and your child may end up without a named place. Get it right and the LA is legally bound to fund the named provision.

What to push for at every review

Every year, regardless of which review, push for the same five things:

• Each section of the plan reflects current need, not the need that existed when the plan was first written
• Section F provision is specific, quantified, and names the person or profession delivering it
• Outcomes in Section E are measurable - you should be able to say at next year's review whether each was achieved
• Any therapy or support that has not been delivered in the last 12 months is either reinstated or replaced with provision that will actually happen
• The plan looks one year ahead, not just one year back - what does the child need over the next 12 months, not just what worked last year

If you are new to the EHCP system or your plan is being reviewed for the first time, read how to get an EHCP and EHCP letter examples for the wording patterns that hold up at review and on appeal.