There's a deadline in February you haven't been told about. The law says your child's plan must name their new school by 15 February — and in Kent, the decisions that lead there are being made this term.
If your child has an Education, Health and Care Plan and starts a new school next September — moving up from infants, from primary, from middle school, or into sixth form or college — their plan has to be reviewed, amended and finalised well before anyone else finds out their school place. That isn't guidance or good practice. It's a legal deadline, set in regulation, and it's one that most parents only hear about once it's already passed.
This is what the deadline is, why it exists, what happens when it's missed, and what you can do in the next few weeks to make sure your child's plan is right before it's locked in.
The date by which your local authority must have reviewed your child's EHCP, amended it where necessary, and issued the final version naming the school they will attend from September. Source: Special Educational Needs and Disability Regulations 2014, regulation 18.
Regulation 18 applies to any child who is within twelve months of a transfer between phases of education — which the regulations define as six specific moves:
For the first five, the deadline is 15 February. For the move into post-16 — sixth form, college, or another post-16 institution — it's 31 March.
Here's the part that surprises people. If your child has an EHCP, you are not in the same admissions process as everyone else — and that's why your answer arrives earlier.
Most families submit their preferences by 31 October and wait until National Offer Day — Monday 1 March 2027 — to find out which school ranked them highly enough on its oversubscription criteria, usually distance. Nobody can know sooner, because the outcome depends on everyone else's applications.
An EHCP placement works differently. Under section 38 of the Children and Families Act 2014, you ask for a particular school to be named in the plan. The local authority must consult that school. And once a school is named in Section I of an EHCP, section 43 of the Act says its governing body must admit the child — a duty that applies regardless of normal admission limits, including the infant class size cap.
So there is no ranking and no distance tiebreak. The local authority makes a decision, names the school, and the school is obliged to take your child. That's why it can — and legally must — be settled by 15 February, before the general allocation runs.
This is where the calendar matters. Work backwards from 15 February using the timescales the regulations set:
Put together, that's up to twelve weeks from meeting to final plan. Those are maximums — a council working promptly can move much faster, and there's no legal rule about when the meeting itself must happen. But a review held any later than late November leaves no slack at all.
In Kent specifically, the process is more structured than the regulations alone require. Kent County Council emails the parents of Year 6 children with an EHCP a preference form in early summer, with a return deadline in September. Your preferred school is then discussed at the phase transfer review, KCC consults schools across the autumn term, and families receive an email naming the school by 15 February.
To Kent's credit, the council reports that this year was the first in which every child moving to secondary school received their amended EHCP by the statutory deadline. That's a real improvement — and it also means the system is working well enough that your input into it genuinely matters.
If 15 February passes and your child's final amended plan hasn't been issued, the local authority is acting unlawfully. This is not an advisory date.
But the breach itself isn't the real harm. The harm is what it costs you:
If it happens, the route is: a formal complaint to the local authority, then the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman if that doesn't resolve it. The Ombudsman has treated lost appeal rights as an injustice in its own right. In serious cases, judicial review is possible — but seek independent advice from IPSEA or SENDIASS before going down that road.
Most annual reviews confirm that a plan is still broadly right. The phase transfer review is different, because whatever the plan says on 15 February is what the new school inherits and works from on day one.
If Section B — the description of your child's needs — was written three years ago and never seriously revisited, the secondary school will build its provision on a description of a much younger child. That doesn't get fixed by someone noticing later. It quietly becomes the baseline.
This review is also the moment the placement itself is decided. The needs and provision described in Sections B and F are what determine which school is suitable — so a plan that understates your child's needs makes it easier for the local authority to name a setting that can't actually meet them.
You are entitled to put evidence into this review. Regulation 20 requires the person arranging it to gather advice and information about your child — and you are on the list of people it comes from. Anything you want considered needs to be in at least two weeks before the meeting.
Child moving school next September, and not sure their plan still describes them accurately? A free 15-minute call is a calm place to talk through what evidence would help — before the review, not after it.
Book a Free 15-Minute CallLet's be clear about what we don't do. The review is a statutory process run by your local authority and school. It will happen whether or not you engage anyone, it's free, and nobody needs to pay for it. EWL isn't a party to it and can't convene it. For advice on your rights, IPSEA and Kent SENDIASS are free, independent, and the right first call.
What we do is the part that comes before the meeting: building the current, independent picture of your child that the review turns on.
“Our son had a gap analysis done with Lauren and it was the best thing we could have done as now we know the reasons for our son’s constant struggles at school.”
“He has gone from a child who didn’t want to learn at all, due to his primary school not meeting his needs, to suddenly showing his actual capabilities AND enjoying learning!!”
Whatever your child's plan says on 15 February is what their new school works from on day one. This is the review to get right.
When does an EHCP have to be updated if my child is changing schools?
Under regulation 18 of the SEND Regulations 2014, if a child is within twelve months of a phase transfer the local authority must review and, where necessary, amend the EHCP so that it names the new school by 15 February in the year of transfer. For transfers into post-16 education the deadline is 31 March.
Which school moves count as a phase transfer?
The regulations define six: early years to school, infant to junior, primary to middle, primary to secondary, middle to secondary, and secondary to post-16. A move between two schools of the same phase, for example changing primary schools, is not a phase transfer and the February deadline does not apply.
Do children with an EHCP go through normal school admissions?
No. Parents request a school under section 38 of the Children and Families Act 2014, the local authority consults it, and once named in the plan the school must admit the child under section 43. This is why EHCP families should receive their placement by 15 February, before National Offer Day. In Kent, parents are sent a separate preference form rather than the standard application, though KCC advises also applying through the standard route if the EHCP has not yet been finalised.
Can the local authority refuse the school I ask for?
Only on the grounds in section 39(4): that the school is unsuitable for the child's age, ability, aptitude or special educational needs, or that attendance would be incompatible with the efficient education of others or the efficient use of resources.
What happens if the 15 February deadline is missed?
The local authority is in breach of a statutory duty. The practical consequence is a compressed or lost appeal window before September. Families can complain to the local authority and then to the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman. IPSEA and SENDIASS offer free advice on next steps.
Can I submit my own evidence to the review?
Yes. Regulation 20 requires advice and information to be gathered from the child's parents and circulated at least two weeks before the review meeting. Independent assessment evidence can be submitted through this route.
This article is general information about the statutory phase transfer process, not legal advice. Local authority procedures and internal deadlines vary and change from year to year — check your own council's current guidance. For advice on your child's situation, contact IPSEA or your local SENDIASS.
“Whatever the plan says on 15 February is what the new school works from on day one.”