Health Education: Young People

(asked on 23rd February 2017) - View Source

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make it her policy to give local authorities discretion in providing educational support to young adults over the age of 25 with an Education Health and Care Plan in the event that they have not received their full entitlement to support before their 25th birthday.


Answered by
Robert Halfon Portrait
Robert Halfon
This question was answered on 4th March 2017

Young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) are not automatically entitled to maintain their Education, Health and Care (EHC) plans after they turn 19. EHC plans are maintained beyond 19 where young people need special educational provision to meet the outcomes set out in their EHC plan. Those outcomes should focus on meeting the young person’s aspirations, and preparing them for adulthood.

When a 19- to 25-year-old continues with an EHC plan, the local authority must review it at least annually. The plan must contain outcomes that should enable the young person to complete their education and training successfully and move on to the next stage of their lives. This will happen at different stages for individual young people, and EHC plans extended beyond age 19 will not all need to remain in place until age 25.

For young people with more complex needs who are likely to continue to need specialist support in adult life, services will need to work together at a local level to plan and fund a smooth transition. These include children’s services, adult social care, housing and health.

This strategic planning, aided by joint commissioning and integrated services, will support a young person to transition successfully to adult life, and receive the right support from adult services where needed.

For students aged 19 and above who don’t have an EHC plan, learner support funding may be available to help them meet the additional needs of learners with learning difficulties and / or disabilities, and / or the costs of reasonable adjustments as set out in the Equality Act 2010.

This support can cover a range of needs including:

  • funding to pay for specialist equipment and helpers;
  • arranging note takers;
  • particular help in lectures and seminars; and
  • special arrangements for exams.
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