Moving to Kent with an education, health and care (EHC) plan

In Kent we have 4 SEND teams who are responsible for 12 districts:

• North Kent: Dartford, Gravesham and Sevenoaks
• East Kent: Canterbury, Swale and Thanet
• South Kent: Ashford, Dover and Folkestone and Hythe
• West Kent: Maidstone, Tonbridge and Malling and Tunbridge Wells

If you need any support you can contact one of our area teams. Alternatively, you can contact Information, Advice and Support Kent (IASK). IASK can offer impartial and confidential advice and guidance.

Moving to Kent with an EHC plan

The following outlines the standard process that should happen; however, outcomes and education settings will be different for each child or young person going through this process.

1. Notify your old local authority you're moving

You must notify your old local authority (LA) at least 15 working days before you move.

This allows your old LA to transfer details of your EHC plan. If not informed within 15 days of your move, they must transfer the details within 15 days of you notifying them.

2. Find a suitable education setting for your child or young person

Once we are notified, we must agree whether the child or young person can still attend their current education setting. If it is not practical to continue (due to location for example), we will find a suitable temporary education setting.

Find out about schools in Kent.

3. Review your child or young person's EHC plan

After we have received the EHC plan, we will contact you within 6 weeks. We will let you know when we plan to review the plan and if we decide to carry out a new EHC needs assessment.

We will contact the local SEND Team at NHS Kent and Medway and request that they review all EHC plans of children or young people who move into Kent. They will help us to understand and check whether the health needs and health provision identified in the EHC plans can be met in Kent through commissioned services.

4. Annual review meeting

Within the first 3 months of moving, or within either 12 months of the original plan being issued or last reviewed, we will review it (whichever is later). This forms part of the annual review process meeting. At the meeting, your child or young person's needs, which have been observed by the education setting, are reviewed. We will also review whether the chosen education setting is appropriate for your child. Once the annual review has taken place, the EHC plan is transferred onto our paperwork.

If a child in care is moving to Kent, the previous LA must notify us of the move. They will also find a place at an education setting and be responsible for the funding. In some cases, where a move needs to take place straight away due to an emergency, a place may not be found before moving.

Moving to Kent part way through the EHC needs assessment

The following outlines the standard process that should happen; however, outcomes and education settings will be different for each child or young person going through this process.

1. Notify your old local authority you're moving

You must notify your old local authority (LA) at least 15 working days before you move. This allows your old LA to transfer details of your EHC needs assessment to us.

2. Review your child or young person's EHC needs assessment

Once we have received the paperwork, we will allocate an officer and follow our EHC needs assessment process.

If your previous LA agreed to carry out an assessment but didn't decide if a EHC plan should be issued, we will continue our assessment process. Our officer will keep you up to date on any timescales and will contact if they need anything else.

We will contact the local SEND Team at the NHS Kent and Medway and request that they review all EHC plans of children or young people who move into Kent. They will help us to understand and check whether the health needs and health provision identified in the EHC plans can be met in Kent through commissioned services.

This process is the same if the child is a looked after child.