Amendments to EHCP not restricted to Sections B, F and I

LB of Hillingdon v SS and Others (SEN): [2017] UKUK 250 (AAC)

A recent appeal to the Upper Tribunal (UT) sets out that the First-tier Tribunal (FTT) can make amendments to an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) other than those in Sections B, F and I. Under s43(2)(f) Children and Families Act 2014 , the FTT can make amendments to sections of the Plan relating to special educational needs, special educational provision and any other consequential amendments to the EHCP as the FTT thinks fit.

This case concerned a FTT decision which ordered four identified bullet points from the working document to be moved from Section B (description of special educational needs) to Section A (views and wishes of the parents, child and young person).

Hillingdon local authority appealed to the Upper Tribunal stating that the FTT had no jurisdiction to order amendments to Section A.

The Upper Tribunal concluded that, provided the amendments are truly consequential, then amendments to other sections of the Plan can be made. This does not, however, mean a back door into health and social care provision. There was some caution expressed (at paragraph 55 of the judgment) for the FTT to take care about health care needs to ensure it has addressed any concerns of the Clinical Commissioning Group.

The findings of this case are similar to that in S v Worcestershire CC (SEN) [2017] UKUT 92 (AAC)where amendments were made to Section E/Outcomes.

The full case, LB of Hillingdon v SS and Others (SEN): [2017] UKUK 250 (AAC) can be read here. We wrote about the other findings in this case here.