What Is an EHCP Annual Review?

If your child or young person has an Education, Health and Care Plan, commonly known as an EHCP, you will regularly hear about their Annual Review.

But an Annual Review is more than simply a meeting with the school.

It is a statutory process for looking at whether the EHCP still accurately reflects the child or young person’s needs, whether the provision is working and whether anything needs to change.

In a recent video on our Education Law TikTok channel, Beverley Watkins, Managing Partner at Watkins Solicitors, explains what families should expect from the process.

How often should an EHCP be reviewed?

A local authority must review an EHCP at least every 12 months.

The purpose is to consider the child or young person’s progress towards the outcomes in their plan and whether those outcomes, their needs and the provision being made remain appropriate.

For some children, the timetable will be different in a Phase Transfer year because the EHCP must be reviewed and amended in time for the statutory school or college placement deadline.

What should an Annual Review look at?

The Annual Review should consider the whole EHCP rather than simply asking whether the child is happy at school.

Important areas include:

• Section B: Special Educational Needs
• Does the EHCP still accurately describe all of the child or young person’s needs?
• Have new needs emerged?
• Is old information still accurate?
• Section F: Special Educational Provision
• Is the support written into the EHCP still appropriate?
• Is it actually being delivered?
• Does it remain sufficient to meet the needs identified in Section B?

Outcomes

• What progress has been made towards the outcomes in the EHCP?
• Do those outcomes remain appropriate, or are new outcomes needed?

School or college placement

• Does the current placement remain suitable?
• Can it continue to meet the child or young person’s needs and deliver the provision required by the EHCP?

The statutory review process specifically requires consideration of progress, outcomes and whether changes are needed to the EHCP.

Does the EHCP have to change every year?

Not necessarily.

There may be years where the existing EHCP remains accurate and no significant amendment is required.

However, the Annual Review should actively consider whether changes are necessary. It should not simply roll the same plan forward without properly looking at the child’s current circumstances.

If a child’s needs, progress, professional recommendations or educational situation have changed but the EHCP remains exactly the same year after year, it may be worth asking whether the plan still accurately reflects them.

Why is the Annual Review important?

Children and young people develop, and their educational needs can change considerably over time.

An EHCP written several years ago may no longer describe:

• The Child’s Current Needs.
• The Therapies They Require.
• The Level Of Support Needed.
• Current Professional Recommendations.
• Appropriate Outcomes.
• The Right Educational Placement.

The Annual Review is the formal opportunity to bring this information together and consider whether the EHCP needs to be updated.

The meeting is only one part of the process

Although people often use Annual Review to mean the meeting itself, legally the review is a wider process.

Information should be gathered before the meeting, recommendations should be recorded afterwards and the local authority must then decide whether it will maintain, amend or cease to maintain the EHCP.

How can Watkins Solicitors help?

Annual Reviews are an important opportunity to make sure an EHCP continues to provide meaningful protection for a child or young person.

Watkins Solicitors has a specialist, multi-award-winning Education Law team supporting families with EHCPs, Annual Reviews, school placements, provision and SEND Tribunal appeals.

Our Education team was named Team of the Year at the Bristol Law Society Awards 2025, alongside Watkins Solicitors being named Regional Law Firm of the Year.

We can review the EHCP and supporting evidence before an Annual Review, help identify amendments that may be needed and advise on the next steps if the local authority later refuses to make changes.

Watch the video and get support

The full video, featuring Beverley Watkins answering this parent question, is available on our Education Law TikTok channel.

If your child has an upcoming Annual Review or you are concerned that their EHCP no longer reflects their needs, contact our Education Law team on 0117 939 0350 or email education@watkinssolicitors.co.uk.