Talk to me about when, and if the EHCP will be ceased

Many parents have concerns about the LA taking away an EHCP – and we completely understand this anxiety.  

The legal wording is ‘cease to maintain an EHC Plan’.  

The circumstances under which an LA may make the decision to cease an EHCP for a child or young person under the age of 18 are set out in the SEND Regs 2014 29(1) which says: 

Ceasing to maintain an EHC plan. 

Circumstances in which a local authority may not cease to maintain an EHC plan where the person is under the age of 18: 

29. (1) A local authority may not cease to maintain an EHC plan for a child or young person under the age of 18 unless it determines that it is no longer necessary for special educational provision to be made for the child or young person in accordance with an EHC plan. 

(2) Where a child or young person under the age of 18 is not receiving education or training, the local authority must review the EHC plan in accordance with regulations 18 and 19 and amend it in accordance with regulation 22 where appropriate, to ensure that the young person continues to receive education or training. 

There are only 2 circumstances when an LA can lawfully cease to maintain an EHCP.   

1. the LA is no longer responsible for your child or young person if they: 

• have taken up paid employment (this does not include apprenticeships) 

• have started a higher educational course (or other level 4 course) 

• are aged 18 or over and have left education and no longer wish to engage in further learning  

• have turned 25 (and the LA has decided not to let them keep their plan until the end of the academic year during which they turn/ turned 25), or  

• move permanently outside England. 

2. It is no longer necessary to maintain the EHC plan.  This can be for many reasons including: 

• The LA thinks your child or young person no longer needs the provision set out in the EHC plan because their SEN have changed and they no longer require an EHCP for provision to be made. 

• The LA thinks your child or young person has met their full learning potential. 

To get straight to the point – the LA cannot lawfully just take the EHCP away overnight, there is a legal process. This legal process must be followed, and not doing so can result in the LA not being permitted legally to cease to maintain. As your journey with an EHCP is likely to have been fraught with LAs not following legal process, it’s important that you know which is the correct path that must be undertaken.  

Let’s have a look at this and the legal process:  

• The LA must inform you, and if your child is over 16 years of age the LA must also inform them if the plan to cease to maintain an EHCP. 

• The LA must have discussed this with the educational placement named in Section I  

• The LA must have discussed this intention with you, and the young person (if over 16 years of age) 

  
  

The above generally happens at Annual Review, and one of the decisions that an LA can make following an Annual Review is to cease to maintain the plan, but the decision to cease to maintain is not exclusive to Annual Review and can be made by the LA at any time.  Whenever an LA make a decision to cease an EHCP, if you, or your young person do not agree, you will have the right of appeal.  

Whilst you are at appeal, the EHCP must remain, and the provision described in F, must continue to be delivered.  

So how long will the EHCP be there for your young person?  

The EHCP will be in place until your young person is age 25, unless: 

• Your young person attends University (see blog on Uni support here 

• If your young person is undertaking a level 4 course 

• If your young person starts paid employment (excluding apprenticeships)  

• If your young person is age 18 or over and leaves education and training with no intentions of re-engaging   

• Your young person is now aged 25 (and has completed their current course) 

• Your child or young person permanently lives outside of England (HMF families look to the Armed Forces covenant and MOD Local Authority Partnership (MODLAP)  

• The LA has stated a Cease to Maintain and you have passed the deadline to appeal 

Some children and young people will not need the support of an EHCP for the entirety of their school life, and of course this must be celebrated. The EHCP has done all it set out to achieve and so the additional support is no longer required. As with all things EHCP related, if you do not agree that this is in fact the case, you will have to evidence otherwise.  

How will you evidence this?  

You use the very same legal test that applies at the beginning of your EHCP journey. Does your child/young person have Special Educational Needs and do they require Special Educational Provision to meet those needs.  

B&M -v- Cheshire East Council [2018] UKUT 232 (AAC), is the leading authority 

on the construction of section 45 of the 2014 Act. Upper Tribunal Judge Mitchell 

held: 

“[91] I agree with counsel that there is an affinity between the test for deciding 

whether to cease to maintain an EHC plan and the test for deciding whether an EHC plan is to be prepared and maintained in the first place. Under s 37(1) of the 2014 Act, the test for deciding whether to prepare and maintain a plan is whether it is necessary for special educational provision to be made in accordance with an EHC plan. It would serve no one’s interests for children and young people to lose their EHC plans only to regain them following a fresh request for an assessment and the carrying out of an assessment. In deciding whether to cease to maintain an EHC plan, a local authority should ask itself 

whether a young person would meet the test for preparing and maintaining an EHC plan in the first instance. If the answer is ‘yes’, I do not see how a local authority could properly decide that it is no longer necessary for an EHC plan to be maintained. Given what I said in the preceding paragraph, local authorities should carefully consider whether they have sufficient up-to-date information about a young person before deciding to cease to maintain an EHC plan. 

So, you will need to evidence that the reasons given by the LA are not applicable, and request where the LA has sourced their information from to evidence that the EHC Plan is no longer required – and for this evidence to be provided. 

The following case law is appropriate here for those past compulsory school age:  

AB -v- East Sussex County Council Case no: UA-2023-001113-HS 

[2024] UKUT 87 (AAC) 

Why?  

This case law is significant because:  

• As above, the same law applies as for an EHC NA, and evidence must be provided to prove that an EHCP is not required.  

• The young person’s views must be taken into account. 

• An EHCP is not exclusively for academic achievement, ‘education and training’ is not just about securing exam results and qualifications, is very specific in section 2 and 15ZA(8) of the Education Act 1996 and section 21 of the CFA 2014, 

• Outcomes must be considered as ongoing, whilst the education/training is ongoing.  

EHC Plans must be carefully reviewed by parents, and not simply considered when an Annual Review is lurking on the horizon. Don’t allow your child or young person’s EHC Plan to reflect when they started Primary school when your child is in Year 4, and by Year 9 your child’s EHC Plan must be preparing them not just for adulthood, but looking towards 6^th Form and beyond.  

We can support you to do this, via our free support and bespoke advocacy services. Empowering Families of Children with SEND has experience of EHCPs from birth to 25 – professionally and personally, mainstream to fully bespoke EOTIS.

We are, and always will be, Stronger Together.   

You can find testimonials to our bespoke services on our website and Facebook business page - here 

EHCP ceased