IEP Northern Ireland: Why Your Child Has a PLP, Not an IEP

If your child's school has told you they're getting a "PLP" rather than an "IEP," you're probably confused — especially if you've been reading any UK-wide SEN resources online. Most of them still talk about IEPs, EHCPs, or Individual Development Plans. None of those apply to Northern Ireland.

Here's what's actually happening and what the change means for your child.

Northern Ireland Replaced the IEP with the Personal Learning Plan

Under the older SEN Code of Practice (1998), schools in Northern Ireland used Individual Education Plans — IEPs — to document support for children on the SEN register at Stages 2, 3, 4, and 5 of the five-stage model.

That system is being phased out. The Special Educational Needs and Disability Act (Northern Ireland) 2016 introduced a new three-stage framework, and with it came a renamed document: the Personal Learning Plan (PLP).

Under the new framework:

• Stage 1: The school delivers support and gives the child a PLP.
• Stage 2: The EA's Local Impact Teams or Health and Social Care Trust professionals get involved, and the PLP continues to be updated.
• Stage 3: A statutory assessment may lead to a Statement of SEN — but the PLP still runs alongside it.

In practice, the PLP serves the same day-to-day function the IEP did: it records the child's current learning needs, sets short-term targets, documents what support is being provided, and tracks whether that support is working.

What Changed, What Didn't

The terminology changed. The underlying purpose didn't.

A PLP must:

• Identify the child's specific difficulties
• Set short-term, measurable targets
• Record the support being provided (by whom, how often)
• Note the outcome of the previous targets at each review

What's new is that the PLP is now required for every child on the SEN register, not just those at a certain stage. It's also meant to be updated more regularly and to involve the child's voice more actively.

The Learning Support Co-ordinator (LSC) — the updated legislative term for what most people still call the SENCo — is responsible for overseeing the PLP.

Why Are People Still Searching "IEP Northern Ireland"?

Because the internet is full of EHCP advice written for England, IEP guides written for the United States, and older NI documents that predate the new framework.

This creates real problems. Parents read about "Section F of the EHCP" or "IEP goals" and try to apply that language in meetings with the EA or at school — and it goes nowhere. Northern Ireland does not have EHCPs. Local Authorities don't exist here. The legal document for statutory provision is the Statement of Special Educational Needs, not a plan.

The terminology contamination is so significant that parents sometimes send the EA correspondence referencing English law — which the EA dismisses outright.

How the PLP Fits Within a Statement

If your child has a Statement of SEN, the PLP is the tactical document; the Statement is the legal framework.

The Statement's Part 3 sets out the broad, legally binding provision: for example, "X hours of direct speech and language therapy per week, delivered by a qualified SLT." The PLP should translate that into specific classroom targets: what the child should be able to do this term, what the teacher and classroom assistant will do to support that, and how progress will be measured.

This connection matters for advocacy. If your child's PLP targets aren't changing — if the same targets appear review after review with no progress — that's evidence that the current provision isn't working. It's the same evidence you'll need if you later want to request a reassessment or challenge the EA at Annual Review.

What to Look For in Your Child's PLP

Not all PLPs are well-written. Watch out for:

Vague targets: "Improve literacy skills" tells you nothing. A measurable target sounds like "Read 80 words per minute by the next review" or "Accurately retell a 3-sentence story with 80% accuracy."

Provision that isn't specified: If the PLP says "access to additional support," ask: what support, delivered by whom, how many times per week?

Targets that never change: If review after review shows "target partially met" or "target not met" with no adjustment to the provision, that's a signal the plan isn't working and needs escalation.

Missing professional involvement: At Stage 2, the PLP should document the involvement of EA support services or Health and Social Care Trust professionals. If your child is supposedly at Stage 2 but nothing has changed and no external professionals are involved, that warrants a direct conversation with the LSC.

If the PLP Isn't Enough: Moving to Stage 3

If your child has been on the SEN register with a PLP for a significant period and hasn't made adequate progress despite genuine Stage 1 and Stage 2 provision, you can request a statutory assessment under the Education (Northern Ireland) Order 1996.

You don't need the school's permission or co-operation to make that request — parents have a direct right to go to the EA themselves. If the EA agrees to assess, the 26-week statutory timeline begins. The PLP continues during this process.

The key evidence you'll need is the paper trail: the PLPs themselves, showing targets set and not met, alongside professional reports, attendance records, and your own account of the impact on your child at home.

The Northern Ireland SEN Statement Blueprint covers the full statutory assessment process, including how to build your evidence file before making the request and what to do when the EA issues the Notice of Consideration.

The Terminology That Matters in Northern Ireland

For anyone navigating this system, the key terms:

• PLP — Personal Learning Plan (the school-level document, replaces IEP)
• Statement of SEN — the statutory document at Stage 3
• LSC — Learning Support Co-ordinator (the school's SEN lead)
• EA — Education Authority (the centralized body handling statutory assessments)
• SENDIST — Special Educational Needs and Disability Tribunal (for appeals)
• DARS — Dispute Avoidance and Resolution Service (independent mediation)

There are no EHCPs, no Local Authorities, and no Individual Development Plans in Northern Ireland. Any resource using that language is written for a different jurisdiction and could lead you to make procedural mistakes.

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