Why don't schools request EHCPs?

Most asked question:

Why is my child’s school not requesting an EHCP when my child clearly needs one?

There are so many replies, specific to your situation, but I’m doing 1 today:

The School MAY be trying to protect funding.

Think about it.. if your child does get an EHCP, with provision in section F that the school MUST follow, the school HAVE to use their SEND school budget on your child as well as the LA top up that might come with the EHCP.

At the moment, your child’s school SEND money is in a big pot that pays for anything the school needs to support SEND..

Once your child has an EHCP your child’s part of that budget is removed from the big pot and placed in a smaller pot.. just for your child.

Example:

School buys in a forest school instructor to support groups of SEND children, other children also benefit for example the nurture group. The Forest school woman also stays and does a really great after school club.

£6000 given to the school to support your child’s SEND goes towards that and your child attends once a week. (Every school is given a notional amount of money for each child with SEND).

Then your child gets an EHCP with £4500 top up funding from the LA. So now the £6000 the school get, plus the £4500 from the 0-25team HAVE to pay for Section F of the plan.

Your child may have 1:1 support, plus lots of intervention detailed and it ALL has to be delivered as soon as the plan is finalised.

So now the school will need to find £6000 to replace the funding used to pay for the general forest school (as that is not detailed on your child’s plan so their money cannot be spent on it).

They will also have to ensure section F of the EHCP is followed and often what is detailed would cost far far higher than the funding given with the plan.

Final Note:

I have supported hundreds of families where a child has got through primary without an EHCP and the parents have fought for one, resulting in the child requiring a special school, or a completely different type of setting... Follow your instinct. Do not give up if you know your child is not adequately supported.