EHCP Reform 2026: Will My Child Lose Their EHC Plan?

Unless you have been living on a desert island for the past few months (and if so, fair play) you will undoubtedly have seen the headlines about Education Health and Care Plans (“EHC Plans”) being reduced, replaced and/or removed. And if you feel your chest tighten and your stomach drop every time, please know that you are far from alone. The SEND White Paper 2026 is the biggest proposed change to the support given to children and young people with Special Educational Needs (“SEN”) in over a decade, and if you’re not sure what it means for your child or young person and/or what you should be doing right now, keep reading.

Let’s start with the fact that matters most: if your child has an EHC Plan, nothing will change immediately. In fact, nothing will change this year or next year, or even the year after that. The changes proposed are all prospective, which means they will apply in the future, and currently any legislation needed to implement these proposals will not take effect before September 2029.

What Did the White Paper Actually Say?

On 23 February 2026, the government published its schools white paper, Every Child Achieving and Thriving, with a major chapter dedicated to reforming the SEN system in England. It is the government’s response to a system that everyone agrees isn’t working; although consensus as to the reasons why it isn’t working is harder to come by. What is clear is that the number of EHC Plans has increased significantly since they were introduced by the Children and Families Act 2014 (“CAFA 2014”), local authority high-needs budgets (the money spent on SEN provision) are collectively billions of pounds in deficit, and families routinely have to fight for support that should never have been in question.

The core proposal is a move away from EHC Plans and towards early identification and support, via a four-tier structure: Universal, Targeted, Targeted Plus, and Specialist support. Every child with identified SEN — including the roughly 1.4 million who currently have no formal plan at all — would get a new document called an Individual Support Plan (“ISP”), drawn up by their school. There will still be EHC Plans, but they will be reserved for children with what the proposals describe as “the most complex needs” and accessed via one of (currently seven) Specialist Support Packages (“SSPs”). This sounds good — who doesn’t want issues to be picked up and addressed early — but there are key changes proposed that parents need to be aware of.

EHCP vs ISP: What Is the Real Difference?

The government is keen to stress that schools will be ‘legally required’ to prepare ISPs for children who require one, and this is correct. However, legally required is not the same as legally enforceable. Currently, if your child or young person has an EHC Plan and you are not happy with what it says about their needs, the provision required to meet those needs and/or the placement allocated, you can challenge the local authority’s decision-making at the SEND Tribunal.

You can also challenge the failure to do an EHC Needs Assessment and/or issue an EHC Plan, and if provision in an EHC Plan isn’t being delivered you can challenge that too (via the different legal process of Judicial Review). It is not yet clear whether equivalent routes of redress will exist for ISPs, but the mood music around the proposals suggests that it won’t — which likely explains why “will my child lose their EHC Plan” has become one of the most-searched questions among SEND parents this year.

Will My Child Lose Their EHCP?

The short answer to this is: no. If your child already has an EHC Plan, nothing changes before September 2030 at the earliest.

The government envisages that changing over to the new system will happen gradually when children and young people reach natural transition points, such as moving from primary to secondary or secondary to post-16. The Department for Education expects roughly one in eight pupils currently on an EHC Plan to move to an ISP, phased in between 2030 and 2035. Any child with a place in a specialist setting when the reforms begin in September 2029 will keep that place, and children already in Year 3 or above are expected to retain their existing EHC Plan until at least age 16.

What If You Are Currently Going Through Assessment?

The current legal framework has not changed, and so the rules for requesting an EHC needs assessment today are exactly the same as they were last year. If your child would qualify for an EHC Plan under the existing criteria, starting the ball rolling now by making an EHC Needs Assessment request is likely to give you the strongest and most durable form of protection going into whatever system eventually replaces the current one.

What Are Charities and Legal Experts Saying?

The response from across the SEND sector has been largely welcoming of the promise of earlier intervention and more children receiving a written plan of some kind. The government has committed over £4 billion to the reform programme, including new capital investment in education settings and expanded specialist advice, with £7 billion more in SEND funding promised by 2028–29 compared with 2025–26. Nobody denies that the system needs the investment. The issue is whether removing tribunal-backed rights from a large group of children is the right way to deliver it. IPSEA, the Independent Provider of Special Education Advice, has made clear its view that any new system must remain statutory, enforceable, and backed by a genuine right of appeal.

What Is the Education for All Bill?

Legislation to implement any of this will come through a new bill called the Education for All Bill, announced in the King’s Speech on 13 May 2026. As things stand, this is a statement of intent rather than a Bill actually going through Parliament, and its final content is still subject to consultation. The detail of what gets written into that Bill is where the extent of the protections — and/or the gaps in those protections — will become clear.

What Should You Do Right Now?

You do not have to sit and wait to find out how this plays out. There are concrete steps worth taking today.

• Request an EHC Needs Assessment (the first step to obtaining an EHC Plan) now if your child is struggling and you believe they might qualify for an EHC Plan. The current legal threshold has not moved. Securing an EHC Plan under today’s rules is the strongest protection available, and it carries forward through any future transition.

• If your child already has an EHC Plan, carry on as normal. Annual reviews, appeals, and tribunal rights all continue to work exactly as they do today. Nothing about the process in front of you right now has changed.

• Respond to the consultations while they are open. The spring and summer has seen several consultations open, and not all have yet closed. Your voice matters; make it heard.

• Follow trusted, independent sources. IPSEA, Contact, and the National Autistic Society are all tracking the reforms closely and publish clear, reliable updates as the Bill develops.

• Talk to your school’s SENCo. Ask about how their setting is preparing and what, if anything, is likely to change locally and when.

• Get in touch with SEND Advocacy. Every child and every family’s situation is different. If you are unsure whether to apply now, appeal a decision, or simply want reassurance about where you stand, we are here to help you make sense of it.

  
  

Frequently Asked Questions

Is my child’s EHC Plan being scrapped?

No. Changes to the support an existing EHC Plan provides will not happen before September 2030 at the earliest. After that time EHC Plans will still exist for children with the most complex needs, but they will likely look very different.

What is an Individual Support Plan?

An ISP is a new, school-produced plan proposed for children with less complex SEND. Schools will have a legal duty to create one, but it is not expected to carry the same enforceable legal rights as EHC Plans do currently.

Should I still apply for an EHC Plan while this is being decided?

Yes. If your child is struggling, you should request an EHC Needs Assessment now. The legal threshold has not changed, and applying now secures protections that carry forward through any future transition.

When does any of this actually become law?

Not before September 2029 at the earliest, and only once the Education for All Bill — announced in the May 2026 King’s Speech — has completed its passage through Parliament.

You Do Not Have to Navigate This Alone

The proposals in the 2026 SEND White Paper are significant, and they are worth watching closely. But they are still proposals, years from taking effect. For every parent asking whether their child is about to lose their EHC Plan, the honest answer today is no — but if the proposals are implemented, the whole landscape of SEN provision will be fundamentally altered. If you want help to ensure your child’s support is as secure as it can possibly be, get in touch with SEND Advocacy today.