Reporting year 2025

Education, health and care plans

Children and young people in England with an education, health and care plan (EHCP), including annual local authority activity on EHCP requests and assessment.

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1 updatefor Reporting year 2025
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12 data sets available for download

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  • Number of education, health (EHC) plans as at January each year

    Local authority, National, Regional

    The number of EHC plans active at January each year. This is shown for the type of setting attended, broken down by current age, age when plan started, ethnicity, sex and how long the plan has been in place. Data is shown on an academic year basis.

    Number of rows
    25,051
    Indicators
    • Total number of EHC plans
    • Mainstream LA maintained schools
    • Mainstream LA maintained schools - SEN units
    Filters
    • Characteristics of child or young person with EHC plan
    Time period
    2018/19 to 2024/25
    Data set information page for Number of education, health (EHC) plans as at January each year
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  • Number of education, health (EHC) plans as at January each year, by their primary type of need

    Local authority, National, Regional

    The number of EHC plans active at January each year, by their primary SEN need. This is shown for the type of setting attended, current age, age when plan started, ethnicity, sex and length of plan. Data is shown on an academic year basis.

    Number of rows
    13,939
    Indicators
    • Total number of EHC plans
    • Autistic spectrum disorder
    • Hearing impairment
    Filters
    • Characteristics of child or young person for whom EHC needs assessment requested
    Time period
    2024/25
    Data set information page for Number of education, health (EHC) plans as at January each year, by their primary type of need
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  • Number of new EHC plans during the calendar year

    Local authority, National, Regional

    The number of EHC plans which start each year. The number of new plans is shown for the type of setting attended, broken down by the age when the plan started, ethnicity and sex. Data is shown on a calendar year basis.

    Number of rows
    17,809
    Indicators
    • Total number of new EHC plans
    • Mainstream LA maintained schools
    • Mainstream LA maintained schools - SEN units
    Filters
    • Characteristics of child or young person with new EHC plan
    Time period
    2019 to 2024
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  • Number of new EHC plans during the calendar year, by their primary type of need

    Local authority, National, Regional

    The number of new EHC plans each year, by their primary SEN need. This is shown for the type of setting attended, age when plan started, ethnicity, and sex. Data is shown on an calendar year basis.

    Number of rows
    9,832
    Indicators
    • Total number of new EHC plans
    • Autistic spectrum disorder
    • Hearing impairment
    Filters
    • Characteristics of child or young person for whom EHC needs assessment requested
    Time period
    2024
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  • Number of requests for an EHC needs assessment, and the request outcomes

    Local authority, National, Regional

    The number of requests for an EHC needs assessment carried out each year. Figures are shown by the outcome of the request, if a mediation or a tribunal occurred, and if the process met the statutory timeframe. Data is shown on a calendar year basis.

    Number of rows
    13,170
    Indicators
    • Total requests for an EHC needs assessment
    • Requests where child in relevant youth accommodation
    • Number of requests where LA decided to proceed with an assessment
    Filters
    • Characteristics of child or young person for whom EHC needs assessment requested
    Time period
    2019 to 2024
    Data set information page for Number of requests for an EHC needs assessment, and the request outcomes
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  • Number of EHC needs assessments, and the assessment outcomes

    Local authority, National, Regional

    The number of EHC needs assessments carried out each year. Figures are shown by the outcome of assessment, whether a mediation or a tribunal occurred and whether the process met the statutory timeframe. Data is shown on a calendar year basis.

    Number of rows
    12,847
    Indicators
    • Total number of EHC needs assessments
    • Number of assessments where a plan was issued
    • Number of assessments where a plan was not issued
    Filters
    • Characteristics of child or young person for whom EHC needs assessment carried out
    Time period
    2019 to 2024
    Data set information page for Number of EHC needs assessments, and the assessment outcomes
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  • Timeliness - EHC plans issued within the statutory 20 week timeframe

    Local authority, National, Regional

    The number of plans issued and whether the issue of those plans met the statutory timeframe, both with, and without, exceptions applying. Data is shown on a calendar year basis.

    Number of rows
    12,212
    Indicators
    • Number of EHC plans issued including exeptions (denominator)
    • Number of EHC plans issued excluding exeptions (denominator)
    • EHC plans issued within 20 weeks including exceptions
    Filters
    • Characteristics of child or young person with EHC plan
    Time period
    2019 to 2024
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  • Number and outcome of annual reviews of education, health and care plans

    Local authority, National, Regional

    The number of annual reviews which took place each year. Figures are shown for the outcome of the review, and whether the review outcome met the statutory timeframe. Data is shown on a calendar year basis.

    Number of rows
    13,290
    Indicators
    • Total number of EHC plans
    • Number where annual review expected
    • Number where annual review not expected
    Filters
    • Characteristics of EHC plan for which annual review is expected
    Time period
    2024
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  • Number of EHC plans with a personal budget in place

    Local authority, National, Regional

    The number of EHC plans where there is personal budget in place. This is broken down by age, sex, ethnicity and the type of setting attended. Figures are shown as at January each year, on an academic year basis.

    Number of rows
    22,955
    Indicators
    • Total EHC plans with personal budget in place
    • Personal budget covers any combination of education, health and social care
    • Personal budget covers education only
    Filters
    • Characteristics of residential placements
    Time period
    2019/20 to 2024/25
    Data set information page for Number of EHC plans with a personal budget in place
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  • Number of residential placements

    Local authority, National, Regional

    The number of residential placements, broken down by age, sex, ethnicity and the type of setting attended. Figures are shown as at January each year, on an academic year basis.

    Number of rows
    23,117
    Indicators
    • Number of residential setting - between 38 and 51 weeks
    • Number of residential settings - 52 weeks
    • Total number of residential settings
    Filters
    • Characteristics of residential placements
    Time period
    2018/19 to 2024/25
    Data set information page for Number of residential placements
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  • Number of work placed placements

    Local authority, National, Regional

    The number of work based placements each year, by age, sex, ethnicity and the type of setting attended. Figures are shown as at January, on an academic year basis, and also work based placements which were active in the previous calendar year.

    Number of rows
    9,917
    Indicators
    • Total work based placements
    • Apprenticeships
    • Supported internships
    Filters
    • Characteristics of young people with a work based placement
    Time period
    2024/25
    Data set information page for Number of work placed placements
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  • Number of EHC plans which ceased during the calendar year

    Local authority, National, Regional

    The number of plans which ceased each year, and the reason why they ceased. This is broken down by the age when the plan ceased, sex, ethnicity, length of time plan in place and the last setting attended. Data is shown on an calendar year basis.

    Number of rows
    21,112
    Indicators
    • Total number of ceased EHC plans
    • Number where maximum age reached
    • Number moved to higher education
    Filters
    • Characteristics of child or young person where plan has ceased
    Time period
    2022 to 2024
    Data set information page for Number of EHC plans which ceased during the calendar year
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Supporting files

Supporting files provide an area for teams to supply non-standard files for download by users where required.

2 supporting data files

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Data guidance

Description of the data sets included in this release, including information on data sources, coverage, quality and any data conventions used.

Description

This document describes the data included in the Education, health and care (EHC) plans National Statistics release’s underlying data files. This data is released under the terms of the Open Government License and is intended to meet at least 3 stars for Open Data. The methodology document should be referenced alongside this data. It provides information on the data sources, their coverage and quality as well as explaining methodology used in producing the data.

Coverage

This release provides information on various stages of the EHC plan process including: 

  • The number of active EHC plans at January of the calendar year - this includes the number of plans by placement type, sex, ethnicity, age, the length of time the plan has been held and the age of the child or young person when the plan started. 
  • The number of new EHC plans in the previous calendar year - this includes the number of plans by placement type, sex, ethnicity, age, etc etc - to add to 
  • The number of requests for EHC needs assessment in the previous calendar year- this includes the number of requests by sex, ethnicity, age at the time of request. Information is broken down by the outcome of the request and whether any mediation or tribunals were held connected to the outcome of the request. Information is also shown on the number of requests where the outcome was delivered within the statutory timeframe. 
  • The number of EHC needs assessments in the previous calendar year- this includes the number of assessments by sex, ethnicity, age at the time of assessment. Information is broken down by the outcome of the assessment and whether any mediation or tribunals were held connected to the assessment and its outcome. 
  • The type of primary need named in the plan - this is included for both all plans and new plans. It is broken down by  placement type, sex, ethnicity, age, the length of time the plan has been held and the age of the child or young person when the plan started. 
  • The number of plans issued with the statutory timeframe in the previous calendar year- this is broken down by sex, age and ethnicity and includes both those where exemptions apply and where exemptions do not apply. 
  • The number of EHC plans where a personal budget is in place - this is broken down by sex, age and ethnicity. 
  • The number of work based placements - this is broken down by sex, age and ethnicity plus type of establishment attended. Information is given for supported internships, apprenticeships and traineeships. Information is given for both the number active as at January each year and the number which closed during the previous calendar year. 
  • The number of residential placements - this is broken down by sex, age and ethnicity plus type of establishment attended. Information is given for those which are between 38 and 51 weeks duration and those which are of 51 weeks or more duration. 
  • The number of annual reviews - this is broken down by sex, age and ethnicity plus type of establishment attended. Information is included by the outcome of the review. 
  • The number of plans which ceased during the the previous calendar year - this is broken down by sex, age when the plan ceased and ethnicity. The reason why the plan ceased and the placement at the time of ceasing are also included. 

Data sources 

In 2023 the source of data on EHC plans changed. Prior to 2023 the data collection was local authority level  with aggregated data being collected for a range of indicators and outcomes from each local authority. 

In 2023 the collection changed to individual level. The local authority returns information on:

  • Each EHC needs assessments and its outcome 
  • Each EHC needs assessment and its outcome 
  • The content of all plans, the type of special educational need, setting named in plan, setting attended, the date the plan started or ceased and what annual reviews have taken place and features of the plan such as personal budgets and residential placements
  • Personal details of the child or young person with a request, assessment or plan in place

This individual level data is then aggregated to calculate national, regional and local authority totals. 

The time series 

This change in data source has necessitated a change in how figures are presented and how the time series of data is shown. Some data items collected in the pre-2023 aggregate collection are no longer available while the individual data now collected allows a much richer and increased range of detailed analysis to be produced. As such there has been a break in the time series. In 2014, changes to the SEN code of Practice (opens in new tab) replaced statements of special educational needs (SEN) and Learning Difficulty Assessments (LDAs) with Education, Health and Care (EHC) plans. Those with a statement of SEN were converted to EHC plans. This process was completed by 2018. Therefore the time series included in this publication begins at 2019. Data for the years prior to 2019 remains available.  The 2024 edition of this statistical release includes information on EHC plans prior to 2019 plus information on statements of SEN for each year from 2010. 

This edition of the release includes an expanded range of analysis including those only possible with the change in data source. Where previous data exists figures have been given to provide a a time series of covering each of the 7 years from 2018/19. 

File formats and conventions

The dataset and outputs have not had suppression or rounding applied

The following convention is used throughout the underlying data. 

z - Not applicable

x - unavailable

Data files

All data files associated with this releases are listed below with guidance on their content. To download any of these files, please visit our data catalogue.

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Contact us

If you have a specific enquiry about Education, health and care plans statistics and data:

School Census Statistics team

Email: sen.statistics@education.gov.uk
Contact name: Special Educational Needs statistics lead

Press office

If you have a media enquiry:

Telephone: 020 7783 8300

Public enquiries

If you have a general enquiry about the Department for Education (DfE) or education:

Phone: 0370 000 2288

Opening times

Monday to Friday from 9.30am to 5.30pm (closed on bank holidays)

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