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Letter check

Check a letter from the local authority

Paste a letter or notice from the local authority about an EHC needs assessment or an EHC plan. Plenda lists what the law says this kind of letter must include, and what is good practice, and which of those things it found in the text.

Take out names and other details first, such as the address, reference numbers and dates of birth. Use [CHILD], [PARENT], [SCHOOL] and so on instead. Nothing you paste is stored, and it is never put in a web address. Read the privacy notice.

When the letter was sent

Fill in the dates you know. Plenda uses them to work out any dates the letter starts.

How these dates are used
The date printed on the letter
Used for time limits when the day the letter was sent is not known. If it is earlier than the day the letter was sent, the 2 months to contact the mediation adviser are counted from it, because reg 34(2) counts them from the date of the notice, which may be that earlier date.
The day the letter was sent, posted or emailed
The time to appeal runs from the day written notice of the decision was sent. Some other time limits also count from the day a letter was sent, such as the 8 weeks for the final amended plan.
The day the letter arrived
Used for time limits that count from the day a letter was sent, such as the time to appeal, only when neither the day it was sent nor the date printed on it is given: the dates for the parent or young person are then counted from 2 working days before it arrived, to allow for post. It can matter for the 15-day periods for comments on a draft plan or proposed amendments, which begin with the day the document was served. The Regulations do not say when a posted or emailed document counts as served.
What came with the letter

A letter often comes with leaflets or other papers. Tick what came with this one. Plenda does not read them, but it can say which things the letter leaves to them.

Leaflets and papers
Add more detail

Everything here is optional.

If you only know roughly when it was sent, put the earliest day it could have been as the day it was sent. Then choose “I only know roughly when it was sent”.

Tick this if Plenda said the letter may be from Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland, but it is from a local authority in England.

This check compares the words of the letter with a list of what that kind of letter must include and what is good practice. It does not judge the decision, and it is not legal advice. To work out dates without a letter, use Work out your dates.