How to respond to an EHCP school consultation

When a local authority consults your school about being named in an Education, Health and Care (EHC) plan, your response should answer one central question: can the school meet the child or young person's needs and deliver the provision in the draft plan?

A strong response is specific, evidence-led and tied to the plan. It does not simply say that the school is full, lacks funding or cannot cope. It explains what the evidence shows, which reasonable steps have been considered and how the statutory naming tests apply.

This guide explains how to respond to an EHCP school consultation in England. It is general information, not legal advice.

1. Confirm what the local authority is asking

Under section 39 of the Children and Families Act 2014, a local authority must consult a school before naming it in an EHC plan in the circumstances set out there. The consultation is not an offer of a place and the school does not make the final naming decision.

Record:

• when the consultation arrived
• the response date stated by the local authority
• whether the consultation concerns parental preference or another placement the authority is considering
• who will coordinate the response
• any missing documents requested from the authority

The SEND Code of Practice says a consulted setting should respond within 15 days. This school response period is different from the statutory period given to a parent or young person to comment on a draft plan.

2. Check that the consultation pack is complete

The school needs enough information to respond intelligently. Start with the draft EHC plan and the advice listed in Section K.

Check for:

• a clear account of special educational needs in Section B
• the outcomes in Section E
• detailed provision in Section F
• educational psychology and relevant therapy reports
• the child's and family's views
• current attainment, attendance and support information
• any recent risk assessments or transition information that is genuinely relevant

If information is missing, ask for it immediately. Do not wait until the end of the response window. Explain what cannot be assessed properly without it.

3. Read the plan across Sections B, F and K

A consultation response should not review each section in isolation.

For every significant need in Section B, ask:

1. What does the professional evidence in Section K say?
2. What provision does Section F require?
3. Can the school deliver that provision as written?
4. What staff, environment, training or reasonable adjustments would be needed?
5. What evidence supports the school's answer?

This cross-check prevents vague statements. Rather than writing, "We cannot meet the child's needs," identify the relevant need, the specified provision, the available evidence and the remaining difficulty after reasonable steps have been considered.

4. Apply the correct legal test

Where a parent or young person requests a particular school, section 39 says the authority must generally name it unless one of the statutory exceptions applies. These concern suitability for the child or young person's age, ability, aptitude or special educational needs, or incompatibility with the efficient education of others or the efficient use of resources.

The school should respond to those tests. Being full, over the published admission number, short of staff or under budget pressure is not automatically enough. If one of those facts matters, explain how it connects to a statutory exception and what evidence supports that conclusion.

For mainstream placement questions, reasonable steps are particularly important. The SEND Code of Practice gives examples of steps that may prevent incompatibility. Record which steps have already been tried, which remain possible and why any proposed step would or would not address the identified issue.

5. Write an evidence-led response

A useful EHCP consultation response normally includes:

• the school and consultation details
• the documents reviewed
• a short description of the school's relevant provision and context
• an analysis of each material need and Section F requirement
• the reasonable steps and adjustments considered
• the school's conclusion against the relevant legal test
• any missing evidence or drafting problems in the plan
• named evidence attached to the response
• a contact for further discussion

Use dates, quantities and examples. "The school has limited space" is weak. A plan showing the room, group size, timetable, current use, adjustments considered and resulting impact is evidence.

Keep the tone factual. Avoid absolute phrases such as "never suitable" unless the evidence genuinely supports them.

6. Submit, record and follow up

Send the response through the channel requested by the local authority and retain:

• the final response
• every attachment
• proof of submission
• the version of the draft plan reviewed
• any follow-up correspondence

The authority must consider the response before deciding what to name. If the school is named in the final plan, section 43 of the Children and Families Act 2014 places a duty on the named school to admit. Concerns should then be escalated through the proper review and legal routes, not by refusing admission or unilaterally ignoring provision.

A short SENCO checklist

Before submitting, confirm that you have:

• identified which naming test the response addresses
• checked Sections B, F and K together
• requested missing evidence
• considered reasonable steps
• replaced generic statements with dated evidence
• distinguished resources from the legal test
• recorded the submission and deadline

Unisen is being built to keep the consultation, evidence, statutory dates and draft response in one shared workflow. You can the current school consultation flow.

Explore the school consultation workflow.