Rulebook · Local authority letter

Decision to stop maintaining (cease) an EHC plan

This letter says the council has decided to stop maintaining (cease) the EHC plan. The law says it must tell you about your right to appeal, the time limit, mediation, help to resolve disagreements, where to get information and advice, and the Tribunal's power to make recommendations about health and social care. The plan cannot end until the time to appeal has passed, or until any appeal is decided.

Plenda checks 23 things in a letter like this: 12 are required by the Act or Regulations; 1 is Code of Practice "should"; 10 are good practice. The council may not stop maintaining the plan until the time for appealing has ended, or, if an appeal is made in time, until it is finally decided. The duty to secure the provision continues meanwhile. For a child or young person under 18, the Regulations say the council may not stop maintaining a plan unless it decides that special educational provision no longer needs to be made through a plan. Read on its own, that covers every decision to stop a plan for someone under 18. It can also be read as limiting only one of the two grounds in the Act, that the plan is no longer necessary, and leaving the other, that the council is no longer responsible for the child or young person. The law does not settle which reading is right. If a child or young person under 18 is not in education or training, the council must review the plan and, where appropriate, amend it so that they continue to receive education or training. For a young person aged 18 or over who has left education or training, the council may stop maintaining the plan only after a review that finds they do not want to return, or that returning would not be appropriate. If they want to return and it is appropriate, the council must amend the plan as it thinks necessary. Turning 19 is not by itself a reason to stop maintaining a plan. A plan can continue until the end of the academic year in which the young person turns 25. A move to another council's area in England is a transfer of the plan, not a decision to cease it. Plenda does not say what effect a gap in a letter has on the decision. A gap can still matter: it can be raised with the council or in a complaint and, where the decision can be appealed, it may be relevant to a late appeal, because the Tribunal decides whether to accept one. This check compares the text supplied with what the law requires in a letter like this, and with good practice. It does not judge whether the decision itself is right.

What a letter like this includes

• The decision: the council will stop maintaining the planLaw (Act or Regulations)
• The right to appeal to the SEND Tribunal (the First-tier Tribunal, Special Educational Needs and Disability)Law (Act or Regulations)
• The time limit for appealing (2 months from the date the decision was sent, or 1 month from the mediation certificate if that is later)Law (Act or Regulations)
• The right to mediationLaw (Act or Regulations)
• That before most appeals the parent or young person must contact a mediation adviser and get a certificate (not needed for an appeal only about the school or college named)Law (Act or Regulations)
• How to contact the mediation adviser (a phone number, email or website)Law (Act or Regulations)
• The time limits for asking for mediationLaw (Act or Regulations)
• That a parent or young person who wishes to pursue mediation must tell the council so, and what the issues for mediation are (and, where an issue is health care provision missing from the plan, the health care provision wanted)Law (Act or Regulations)
• Contact details for the person acting for the council whom the parent or young person contacts to pursue mediationLaw (Act or Regulations)
• That going to mediation is a choice: only contacting the mediation adviser is needed before most appealsGood practice. Not required
• That going to mediation does not affect the right to appealCode of Practice: should (follow unless there is a good reason not to). Not required
• That disagreement resolution services are availableLaw (Act or Regulations)
• That information and advice about special educational needs is available (for example from the local SENDIASS)Law (Act or Regulations)
• The Tribunal's power to make recommendations about health and social care needs and provisionLaw (Act or Regulations)
• The date of the letterGood practice. Not required
• Which ground the council relies on (it is no longer responsible, or the plan is no longer necessary) and whyGood practice. Not required
• That the plan continues until the time to appeal has passed, or until any appeal is decidedGood practice. Not required
• When the council intends the plan to stopGood practice. Not required
• That the council first said it was considering this, and consulted the parent or young person and the school or college namedGood practice. Not required
• For a young person aged over 18: whether the education or training outcomes in the plan have been achievedGood practice. Not required
• That the decision has also been sent to the school or college named in the planGood practice. Not required
• That the decision has also been sent to the health commissioning body (usually the integrated care board)Good practice. Not required
• A named person at the council to contact, with a phone number or emailGood practice. Not required

Type of rule

Law (Act or Regulations)This is the law, set by an Act of Parliament or by Regulations.

Rule id

notice.cease_decision

Rules version

england-2026.10

Law as at

30 September 2026

Sources

• Children and Families Act 2014, s 45Law (Act or Regulations)
• SEND Regulations 2014, reg 31Law (Act or Regulations)
• SEND Regulations 2014, reg 32Law (Act or Regulations)
• Children and Families Act 2014, s 45(4)Law (Act or Regulations)
• Children and Families Act 2014, s 42(2)Law (Act or Regulations)
• SEND Regulations 2014, reg 29(1)Law (Act or Regulations), to verifyStill open: which ground reg 29(1) limits; no court decision or guidance has settled it. Its words cover any decision to cease a plan for an under-18 and make no exception for the CFA s 45(1)(a) ground (no longer responsible). The power in s 45(5) is general: it opens "Regulations may make provision about ceasing to maintain an EHC plan, in particular about", so reg 29 is not confined to s 45(5)(b) (circumstances in which a council may not determine that a plan is no longer necessary). Still to confirm: the exact words of reg 29(1) in its current revised text. Reg 29(2), not 29(1), is the rule for a child or young person under 18 who is not in education or training.
• Children and Families Act 2014, s 45(1)Law (Act or Regulations)
• Children and Families Act 2014, s 45(5)Law (Act or Regulations)
• SEND Regulations 2014, reg 29(2)Law (Act or Regulations)
• SEND Regulations 2014, reg 30(1)Law (Act or Regulations)
• SEND Regulations 2014, reg 30(2)Law (Act or Regulations)
• SEND Code of Practice 2015, para 9.200Code of Practice: must (restates the law)
• SEND Code of Practice 2015, para 9.151Code of Practice: must (restates the law)
• Children and Families Act 2014, s 46Law (Act or Regulations)
• SEND Regulations 2014, reg 46Law (Act or Regulations)
• Children and Families Act 2014, s 47Law (Act or Regulations)
• SEND Regulations 2014, reg 15(1)Law (Act or Regulations)

Related

• The council decided to stop maintaining the EHC plan
• Last day to contact a mediation adviser (needed before most appeals)
• Last day to appeal to the SEND Tribunal
• New council's letter after a plan transfers on a move

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