Special Education Insurance Coverage Guide & Tips in the UK

In England, an Education, Health, and Care (EHC) plan is present for people requiring extra assistance and who are at the age of 25 or below by providing special educational needs support. As its name shows, EHC plans address people’s education, health, and care needs.

How to Request an EHC Assessment?

If you believe that your child might need an EHC plan, you can request an EHC assessment for your child by contacting your local authority. Also, if your child is between the ages of 16 and 25, he or she can request the assessment by himself or herself. Although you can request an assessment for your child, if it is seen as necessary by others, like doctors, visiting nurses, teachers of the child, or family friends, then they can submit the request as well.

If other people would like to request an assessment for your child, they may ask you the following:

• If there are any reports or statements from your child’s school, nursery, or caretaker.
• If you could provide your child’s

doctor’s assessment.

• If you, as a parent of your child, could provide a letter for your child’s needs.

Therefore, after all the processes are done, the local authority will let you know in 16 weeks whether an EHC plan will be created for your child or not.

The Process of Creating an EHC Plan for Your Child

1. Usually, the local authority creates an outline EHC plan, and they provide you with a copy of the plan.
2. After that, you will have 15 days in total if you would like to comment on the outline plan or ask whether your child will go to a school, particularly for special needs or a specialist college.
3. After you request an EHC assessment for your child, the local authority will have 20 weeks from that date to deliver you the final EHC plan.

Appealing the Decision

If the local authority denies the request, then you can question and challenge their decision about the following:

1. Their reason for refusing to conduct the assessment.
2. Their reason for not designing an EHC plan for your child.
3. Special educational assistance is found in the EHC plan.
4. The school is found in the EHC plan.

Despite questioning and challenging the topics mentioned above, you can appeal to The Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) Tribunal if there is no change.

Special Budget

If you are told that your child needs an EHC plan, or if she or he already has an EHC plan, then you are likely to get a personal budget allowing you to support your child’s educational needs. Also, the personal budget could be used in 3 ways listed below:

1. You might be directly paid the personal budget and find the money in your account, which allows you to buy and handle the essential services for your child.
2. An arrangement could be made between the local authority or school, where the money is held for your child’s needs, but the decision on how to spend it is still up to you. (Which is also known as ‘notional arrangements’).
3. Third-party arrangements, where you select a person to finance about how to spend money for you.

Also, you can have all three options as a combination as well.

Independent Supporters for Children Regardless of Their Age

Free support is available for your child, and independent supporters could assist you during the new Special Educational Needs (SEN) evaluation process in two ways:

1. They can replace the report of special educational needs with a new EHC plan.
2. They can replace a child’s learning difficulty assessment plan (LDA) with an EHC plan.

Overall, there are different rules and law requirements around the coverage for children with special needs. Also, insurance plans are not your only option for your child’s needs and as means of payment methods. Therefore, knowing what opportunities you have and what path to follow may make what steps you need to take more certain and less confusing.

For Insurance Tips in Other Countries

Visit this link for Special Education Insurance Guide and Tips in the US.

Visit this link for Special Education Insurance Guide and Tips in Canada.