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Every autumn, support that was agreed in the summer fails to appear in September. Here is a practical checklist to confirm your child's SEN provision is actually happening this term, and what to do if it is not.
This guide explains the legal framework and what you need to know. When you are ready to write the actual letter, .
The new term has settled in. New class, often a new teacher and teaching assistant, a fresh timetable. For most families that is just the usual September reset. For a child with special educational needs, it is the point in the year when support is most likely to quietly fall away.
An EHCP is a legally binding document, but a document does not deliver itself. The adults who knew your child last year may not be the ones with them now, and provision that was working in July can simply fail to restart in September. The good news is that this is also the easiest time to put it right, before a small gap becomes the whole school year.
Work through these in the first few weeks of term:
1. Confirm the class team actually has the plan. Does your child's new teacher, and any teaching assistant working with them, have a copy of the EHCP or SEN support plan and understand it? Do not assume it was handed over.
2. Check Section F is happening. Section F is the legally binding part of the EHCP: the specific provision the school must deliver. Take each item, adult support hours, interventions, therapies, equipment, and check what is genuinely in place, not just promised.
3. Check the practical basics. Seating, access arrangements, sensory needs, a named key adult, and arrangements for breaks and lunchtime. Unstructured times are where support most often quietly disappears.
4. Check exam and assessment access arrangements if your child is at that stage.
5. Confirm the annual review date so you know when it is and can prepare.
6. Watch your child, not just the paperwork. New reluctance to go in, exhaustion after school, or slipping back on things they had mastered are all signals worth acting on early.
Raise it early, and raise it in writing. A calm, specific letter to the SENCo or headteacher, setting out exactly what the EHCP specifies and what is missing, carries far more weight than a conversation at the school gate that leaves no record.
If the school cannot resolve it, escalate to your local authority. Under Section 42 of the Children and Families Act 2014, it is the local authority that holds the legal duty to secure the provision in Section F. That duty is not optional and is not subject to the school being short-staffed or short of budget.
One of the most common mistakes is saving up concerns for the annual review. You do not have to. The provision in an EHCP must be in place now. If it is not, you are entitled to raise it at any point in the year, and the sooner you do, the less learning your child loses.
Does my child's EHCP carry over to the new school year and new class?
Yes. It remains legally binding, and the school must deliver it in full regardless of any change in staff or class.
The new teacher has not read the EHCP. What should I do?
Put it in writing, politely, and ask the school to confirm that the class team has read the plan and how the Section F provision will be delivered this term.
Support agreed last year has not started this term. Is that allowed?
No. The provision in Section F must be secured under Section 42 of the Children and Families Act 2014. Raise it in writing now.
What if my child is on SEN Support rather than having an EHCP?
The school still has a duty to use its best endeavours to meet their needs under Section 66 of the Act, and to follow the graduated "assess, plan, do, review" approach in the SEND Code of Practice. Ask to see the support plan and when it will be reviewed.
Who is actually responsible if the school is not delivering?
The school delivers day to day, but the local authority holds the ultimate legal duty for EHCP provision. If the school will not put things right, the local authority is who you escalate to.
Knowing your rights is one thing. Wording a letter so the school or local authority takes it seriously is another, especially in the first busy weeks of term. SEN Letters UK generates a clear, professional, legally-informed letter for exactly these situations, from confirming provision with the class team to escalating a shortfall to the local authority, in minutes. You answer a few questions about your child and your situation, and it produces a letter you can send straight away.
The start of term sets the tone for the whole year. A short, well-aimed letter now is the most powerful thing you can do to make sure the support your child is entitled to actually turns up.
SEN Letters UK writes the letter for you, professionally worded, legally informed, tailored to your child's situation.
Preview free. Full letters from £4.99, credits never expire.
Get the letter that requests an assessment
You do not need the school's permission to ask. We will email you a ready-to-use template letter to request an EHC needs assessment from your council, with the right wording and the law it rests on.
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