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

Moving to a new area can feel overwhelming, especially when your child or young person already has an education, health and care (EHC) plan.

This page is for families who are moving to Kent with an EHC plan. It explains what usually happens next, what you need to do, and how we work with you to help make sure your child’s support continues as smoothly as possible.

Every child is different, so education settings and support can vary.

1. Tell your current local authority you're moving

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

This gives them time to transfer details of your EHC plan to us. If you do not tell them within 15 days of your move, they must transfer the details within 15 days of you telling them.

2. Find a suitable education setting

Once your current LA tells us of your move, we must agree whether your 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.

We will not start looking for an education setting until we have confirmation that the move into Kent has taken place.

Find out about schools in Kent.

See how we support you if you're moving secondary schools in September.

3. Review your EHC plan

When we have your EHC plan, we will contact you within 6 weeks.

We will let you know when we will look to review the plan and if we decide to carry out a new EHC needs assessment.

After this we'll contact the local SEND Team at NHS Kent and Medway and ask them to review the health section on your EHC plan. They will help us to understand and check whether the health needs and health support shown in your EHC plan can be met in Kent through commissioned services. A commissioned service is a service that we fund, but someone else offers.

By reviewing your EHC when you move, it helps us to make sure your child or young person gets the right support that still meets their needs.

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.

Child in care

If a child in care is moving to Kent, your previous LA will:

• tell us of the move
• find a place at an education setting
• be responsible for the funding.