Health and Social Care

For expert advice on how to access Health and Social Care, see here.

 

Health and Social Care sections  form part of an EHC Plan. 

 

Health

The Children and Families Act 2014 places a legal duty on Health (via their Clinical Commissioning Groups - CCGs) to identify and provide the Health provision as specified in the relevant parts of an Education, Health and Care plan.  

 

For further information about Health assessments see here.

 

Care

If your child has had a Social Care assessment then they may have a Care Plan.  This can be included in the Care sections of the EHC plan.

 

Section D of an EHC plan should include the child or young person's social care needs which are related to their SEN or to a disability.  

 

Section H1 includes any social care provision which must be made for a child or young person under 18 resulting from section 2 of the Chronically Sick and Disabled Persons Act 1970.

 

Section H2 covers any other social care provision which is reasonably required by the learning difficulties or disabilities which result in the child or young person having SEN.  This will include any adult social care provision being provided to meet a young person's eligible needs (through a statutory care and support plan) under the Care Act 2014.  

 

For further information about Social Care assessments see here.

 

It is important to be aware:

 

·         Following the completion of a pilot scheme, the government has decided that the powers of the First-tier Tribunal (SEND) should be extended to enable the Tribunal to make recommendations about the Health and Social Care sections of an EHC plan in appeals about the content of an EHC plan. This is called the 'National Trial of a Single Route of Redress' and is due to start on 3 April 2018 and will be for two years.  

Note: the Tribunal can make an Order which a Local Authority must carry out in respect of the Education sections (Sections B, F and I) 
of an EHC plan, whereas the Tribunal will only be able to make recommendations in regard to the Health and/or Social Care sections.  For more information about the National Trial see here.  Any appeal which includes an appeal against the Health and/or Care sections of an EHC plan must also include an appeal against the Education sections of the EHC plan.

 

·       If Health provision is agreed and then the family moves to a different part of England, there is no guarantee that the new Health authority will agree to provide it.

 

·       Any Health or Social Care provision which educates or trains a child or young person must be treated as special educational provision and included in Section F of the EHC plan

In most cases, because communication is recognised as essential to learning, the provision of Speech and Language therapy will be regarded as special educational provision and should be included under Section F.  In some cases it will be possible to show that Occupational therapy is needed to enable a child or young person's access to the curriculum – thus Occupational therapy becomes special educational provision and should be included under Section F.  In some cases, this also applies to Physiotherapy.   

 

9.73 of the SEND Code of Practice 2015:

 

'Health or social care provision which educates or trains a child or young person must be treated as special educational provision and included in Section F of the EHC plan'