Education, Healthcare Plans (EHCP)

If your child is starting reception or secondary school and has special education needs/disability, it is important that you make an application for a school place. You must not wait until notification is received of whether or not an Education, Healthcare Plan (EHCP) will/will not be issued.

Not all applications for an EHCP are successful and even if they are, your child may not be offered a place in a special school.

If you are uncertain about the process please contact the school admissions team on 0161 770 4213 or email ecs.pupil@oldham.gov.uk

Learn more about Education, Healthcare Plans

Developed by the Council for Disabled Children, these easy to follow short animations are for parents, carers, children and young people, practitioners and others who want to learn more about EHC plan. 

Requesting an EHC Assessment

The following people have the specific right to ask the Local Authority (LA) to conduct an EHC needs assessment for a child or young person aged between 0-25:

  • the child or young person’s parent;
  • a young person over the age of 16 but under the age of 25;
  • a person acting on behalf of a school or post-16 institution (ideally with the knowledge and agreement of the parent or young person where possible);
  • a child or young person under 19 in youth custodial establishments – or their parent or a professional working with them (being introduced from April 2015).

Other people can bring a child or young person who has, or may have SEN, to the attention of the LA – e.g. foster carers, health and social care professionals, early years practitioners, youth offending teams, probation services, educational professionals from custody placements, school or college staff or family friends.

Request an assessment

You can request an assessment online using the online EHC Hub.

The EHC Hub is an online tool that enables families, professionals, and schools to work together on EHC assessments, plans, and reviews.

We will use the information you provide to decide whether to carry out a needs assessment

We'll keep you updated about your request.

Once you have applied, you should receive an invitation to join the EHC Hub. If you haven’t received this in five work days, please email ehcinfo@oldham.gov.uk. Check your junk email before you do.

It’s okay if you can’t complete a section of the form; please complete the sections that you can. We may ask you for more information to help with our decision-making.

If you are unable to use the online form to make a EHC assessment request, please contact Oldham SENDIASS on 0161 503 1540

Contact

If you have any questions about submitting a request for assessment please contact the Access Service:

Reviewing an EHC Plan

EHC plans must be reviewed as a minimum every 12 months. Reviews must focus on the child or young persons progress towards achieving the outcomes specified in their EHC Plan. The review must also consider whether these outcomes and supporting targets remain appropriate. The below document explains the timeline and process for all annual reviews that take place in Oldham LA.

Local Authority SEND Officers

Our SEND Officers have been allocated specific schools and are responsible, with the school SENCO, for the review and maintenance of Education, Healthcare Plans (EHCP), for any child/young person attending a school or setting.

This will mean that your son/daughter, along with the school SENCO will have a named contact for communication regarding their EHC Plan.

It also means where an Oldham child or young person with an EHC Plan attends:

  • a school outside of Oldham, the ward in which they live will be used to determine the named officer. For example, if a child/young person attends a school in Bolton and lives in the Failsworth West area, the named officer would be the officer covering the Failsworth West area.
  • a post 16 provision (college, further education, training college, apprenticeship), the ward in which they live will be used to determine the named officer. For example, if a young person attends Oldham College and lives in the Failsworth West area, the named officer would be the officer covering Failsworth West area.
  • a school in Oldham, there will be a named officer for that school dependent on the ward it is located in.

Deputy Officers have been allocated to all schools and settings in the case of annual leave or staff absence.

This document details allocated SEND officers by school/wards in Oldham - Find my Local Authority SEND Officer

Grace's Story - My View of SEND (POINT produced) from Oldham Council