Do I have to send my child to the school named in their Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP)?

For many families, securing an EHCP is a hard-fought process, but there are situations where parents may not wish to send their child to the school named. For example:

1. Disagreement about suitability: parents may feel the named school is not appropriate. In these circumstances the parents may decide to appeal to the First-tier Tribunal for a different school to be named. They may decide that they do not want to send their child to an unsuitable school pending the outcome of the appeal which with currently listing times can take around a year. 
2. Placement breakdown: a child’s placement at the school named in their EHC Plan has broken down and it is no longer be reasonably practicable for them to attend, despite remaining on the school roll.
3. Elective home education: the parents may, as a lifestyle choice, decide that they would prefer to electively home educate their child at their own expense, without involvement of the LA or it funding an education otherwise than in a school (‘EOTIS’) package.
4. Independent school preference: in the event of an unsuccessful appeal or for other reasons, the parents may decide that instead of the school named in the EHC Plan they would prefer to self-fund their child’s placement at an independent school. 

Save for exceptional circumstances, such as where a Family Court or School Attendance Order is in place compelling attendance at a school, there is no obligation to send a child to the school named in their EHCP.  

However, the LA’s obligation to secure the special educational provision specified in the EHCP and/or pay school fees will then fall away s42(5) CAFA 2014. Further, the parents will need to ensure suitable alternative arrangements for the child’s education have been made s7 EA 1996. Those alternative arrangements do not need to be the same as what was set out in the EHCP as how the LA would discharge its obligation to the child, but must still be suitable. 

For families choosing to electively home educate is important to be aware that the LA has powers to check whether parents are causing their child to receive efficient full-time education suitable to:

• their age, ability and aptitude; and
• to any special educational needs they may have. 

If the LA is not satisfied of that, then it can serve a School Attendance Order which specifies a particular school to which the parent should send the child or risk criminal prosecution.

It is also important to be aware of changes on the horizon including the Children’s Wellbeing Bill 2025, currently at Committee stage in the House of Lords. This will require an LA to serve a school attendance order and prosecute, even where home education was suitable, if it considers school attendance was nonetheless in the child’s ‘best interests’ marking a significant change to the current position.  

There are around 21,000 appeals to the First-tier Tribunal each year, many of which are challenging the contents of a child’s EHC Plan. The vast majority of appeals are successful. Where a parent decides it is not appropriate to send their child to the school named in their EHC Plan it may well be possible to secure LA funded interim education if there is in fact no suitable education reasonably practicable for the child. Whatever the arrangement, the key issue is to ensure that the child is receiving efficient, suitable full-time education.