EHCP School Placement Deadlines: Key Statutory Timelines You Need to Know

The deadlines that govern EHCP school placement in England are scattered across multiple pieces of legislation and statutory guidance. Missing one can reduce the time available for consultation, appeal, and transition, and in some cases disrupt a September start. Here are the key deadlines that matter when a school placement is being decided, changed, or challenged — and what to do when the local authority misses them.

This is general information for England, not legal advice. The applicable deadline can depend on the decision, the dates on the LA's letter, and any statutory exception.

The 20-Week Assessment Deadline

When you request an EHC needs assessment, the local authority (LA) has 6 weeks to decide whether to assess. If it agrees to assess, the LA must usually issue the final EHC plan within 20 weeks of receiving the request, subject to limited statutory exceptions.

If the LA decides after the assessment not to issue a plan, it must normally notify you by 16 weeks from the request, again subject to limited exceptions.

This 20-week clock is the first placement deadline most families encounter. The final plan normally specifies a school or type of institution in Section I, so the placement decision is built into this timeline. In practice, the LA should be consulting your preferred school and gathering its response well before week 20, not waiting until the last moment.

If the LA exceeds 20 weeks without issuing a final plan, it may be in breach of its statutory duty under Regulation 13(2) of the Special Educational Needs and Disability Regulations 2014, unless an exception applies. Use the LA's complaints process first; after that, the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (LGSCO) may consider maladministration, while judicial review is a specialist, time-limited route about how the decision was made.

Phase Transfer Deadlines

Phase transfers — when a child moves from one stage of education to the next — have their own statutory completion dates, separate from the 20-week assessment timeline. These apply when an existing EHCP needs to be reviewed and amended for the next phase.

These are completion deadlines: the LA must review and amend the plan, where necessary, by the relevant date, naming the school, institution, or type where required. That means every preceding step (Annual Review, consultation with your preferred school, parental representations, and the draft plan) needs to be planned early enough to finish by the deadline.

For a primary-to-secondary transfer, ask the LA or current school when its phase-transfer review will take place and submit your preference promptly. Local planning dates vary, but the statutory completion date remains 15 February.

School Consultation: What the 15-Day Guidance Means

When the LA is considering naming a school, it must consult the school or institution in the circumstances set out in sections 39 and 40 of the Children and Families Act 2014. The SEND Code of Practice says the nursery, school, or college should respond within 15 days; it does not describe this as 15 school days.

Where the statutory consultation duty applies, the LA cannot simply skip it. The consultation can involve:

• The school you request as your preference
• Any alternative school the LA proposes

If the school does not respond within 15 days, the LA should follow up rather than treat silence as refusal. For institutions covered by section 43 of the Children and Families Act 2014, an EHC plan naming the institution creates a duty to admit, although that section does not remove any power to exclude. The consultation is about whether the school can meet needs, not whether it wants to.

Annual Review and Placement Change: The 4-Week and 8-Week Windows

An Annual Review can result in the LA deciding to amend the EHCP — including changing the school named in Section I. The deadlines here are:

1. 4 weeks from the Annual Review meeting: the LA must notify you of its decision — whether it proposes to amend the plan, maintain it without changes, or cease it
2. If amending: 8 weeks from sending the amendment notice and copy of the plan: the LA must issue the final amended EHCP or tell you it will not amend

These windows matter because a placement change proposed through an Annual Review follows this timeline, not the 20-week assessment timeline. If the LA uses the full periods, a change decided at an Annual Review can take roughly 12 weeks from the meeting (up to 4 weeks for the decision notice, then up to 8 weeks from the amendment notice).

If the LA proposes a placement you disagree with, you have a right to make representations during the amendment process before the final plan is issued. The LA must give you at least 15 calendar days to respond to the amendment notice.

Your Right to Request a Placement Change

You can ask the LA to consider amending the EHCP to name a different school or to hold an earlier review; you do not necessarily have to wait for the next scheduled Annual Review. The SEND Code covers amendments following a review and amendments proposed at another time. Once the LA sends an amendment notice, you must be given at least 15 calendar days to make representations or request a particular school.

There is no single national deadline for an informal request to consider a placement change. Ask the LA to confirm in writing whether it will review or amend the plan and when. If you make a request and hear nothing, follow up in writing and ask for a response date.

SEND Tribunal Appeal Deadlines

When the LA issues a final EHCP (or a final amended EHCP) naming a school you disagree with, the appeal deadlines are strict:

• 2 months from the date on the LA's decision letter for the Tribunal to receive your appeal, OR
• 1 month from the date of the mediation certificate, whichever is later

If your appeal is only about the school or institution named in Section I, mediation is not required before appealing. If you use mediation, or mediation is required for another issue in the appeal, check the mediation certificate and the LA's decision letter for the applicable deadline.

Submit the appeal as early as possible within the time limit, especially for phase transfers where a September start date is at stake.

When the LA Misses a Placement Deadline

The latest Department for Education data show that 46.1% of new EHC plans were issued within 20 weeks in 2025 where no statutory exceptions applied (DfE statistics). That figure covers new plans, not phase-transfer deadlines, so do not assume it proves a particular placement delay. Here is what to do when a deadline is missed:

Document the delay immediately. First identify whether the date is a statutory deadline or a SEND Code expectation. Then write to the SEND team citing the relevant provision and the date it was due. Keep the letter factual and brief.

Escalate in stages. If the LA does not respond promptly, follow its published complaints process:

1. Formal complaint to the LA's complaints team
2. LGSCO complaint after the LA process, where the issue is maladministration such as delay or failure to follow procedure. The Ombudsman cannot decide the merits of the school placement.
3. Independent legal advice if a continuing public-law failure may require urgent judicial-review action; this route is specialist and time-limited.

Do not wait for the LA to self-correct. Every week of delay compresses your options. If a phase transfer deadline is missed and you expect to need a Tribunal appeal, the delay leaves less time to plan for the next school year and use that appeal route.

Key Deadlines at a Glance

What to Do Right Now

If your child's school placement is being decided or is about to change, work backwards from the relevant deadline. For a child transferring from primary to secondary school, ask when the phase-transfer review will happen, submit your school preference promptly, and follow up well before 15 February if you have not seen a draft amended plan or consultation.

For an overview of how all of these deadlines fit into the broader EHCP process — including how to prepare evidence for your preferred school and what to do if the LA names the wrong placement — see the England EHCP & SEN Blueprint.

See more England guides →