The Annual Review process ensures that a child or young person's Education Health and Care (EHC) plan remains relevant to their needs, the support they require and their desired outcomes. The annual review process considers whether any changes should be made to their EHC plan.

By law, your child's Education, Health and Care (EHC) plan must be reviewed at least once every 12 months. This is to make sure that your child is getting the right support. This must be completed on or before the anniversary of when the EHC plan was first issued or the anniversary of the last review.

The local authority (Surrey County Council) is responsible for arranging the Annual Review process, but evidence gathering can be delegated to the school or college.

As part of the annual review, we gather your and your child’s views, as well as updated information and advice from professionals. We also gather the notes and recommendations from the review meeting. Then we will decide whether to update the plan, keep it as it is, or stop the plan. We will do this within four weeks of the review meeting, and we will notify you in writing of our decision.

Reviews usually help us to make any changes needed to keep your child’s EHC plan relevant. However, if your child’s needs change significantly, it may be necessary for the plan to be re-assessed instead. Talk to your child's school or setting if you think that an early or emergency review may be necessary. You can also contact SEND Advice Surrey for more information and additional resources, including links to template letters.

'What is an annual review?' video from the Council for Disabled Children

Annual Reviews in Surrey

The local authority is responsible for arranging the Annual Review process. It is not the responsibility of the school, college or health service to arrange the Annual Review, but the local authority can delegate evidence gathering for the review to the school or college.

Usually, annual review meetings are held in an educational setting (for example, your child's early years provider, school or college). You will be invited by your child's educational setting to the meeting. Please note that if a child is looked after by Surrey council, there is an expectation that the child or young person's Personal Education Plan (PEP) meeting will be held at the same time as the Annual review.

The review includes working with you and your child and asking you what you think about progress that has been made and what you want to happen. It must take account of the views, wishes and feelings of you and your child, including their right to request a Personal Budget.

SEND Advice Surrey has more detailed information about the annual review process on their website.

What happens next?

The Annual Review will assess to what extent the provision in the EHC plan has supported the achievement of the outcomes set out in Section E of your child's EHC plan.

The local authority must decide whether to keep the plan as it is, make changes, or stop the plan within four weeks of the review meeting.

However, the plan will stop if the young person:

• goes to university
• gets a job
• tells us they no longer want their EHC plan
• no longer needs support in excess of what schools or colleges can offer as part of the Special Educational Needs (SEN) statement on their website

For more information, please see the Council for disabled children's 'What is an annual review?' page.

Files available to download

• Guidance on Section 41 and Non-Section 41 Schools preference (PDF)
  Guidance for parents on requesting a section 41 or non-section 41 school in an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP)