Individual Development Plan Wales: How the IDP System Works

If your child has been in the Welsh education system for any length of time and previously had an IEP, a Statement, or School Action Plus support, those documents are now legally obsolete. Since 2021, Wales has been phasing out the old SEN framework and replacing it with a single statutory document: the Individual Development Plan. By August 2025, the transition was complete. Every child who needs statutory educational support in Wales should either hold an IDP or be in the process of having one prepared.

The IDP is not simply a renamed IEP. It is a fundamentally different document with different legal weight, different content requirements, and a different structure of accountability. Understanding those differences is essential if you want your child's plan to be worth the paper it is printed on.

What Is an IDP and What Must It Contain?

An IDP is a statutory, legally binding document. That means if a school or local authority writes a provision into an IDP, they are legally obliged to deliver it. The problem is that "legally binding" only functions as a safeguard if the provision is written in a way that can actually be enforced.

The ALN Code 2021 prescribes a mandatory structure for every IDP. Local authorities and schools can change the visual design, but the headings must appear in a fixed order. The key sections are:

Section 1A–1C (Profile and Responsibility). Contains biographical information, contact details, and the "About Me" profile developed through Person-Centred Practice — capturing what people appreciate about the child, what matters to them, and how best to support them.

Section 2A (Description of ALN). A clear, comprehensive description of the specific learning difficulties or disabilities that act as a barrier to the child's progress.

Section 2B (Additional Learning Provision). This is the operational core of the document. It must state what provision will be provided, how often, who will deliver it, and whether it must be delivered through the medium of Welsh. Vague language here — "access to support when needed," "regular TA time" — is legally unenforceable and essentially worthless.

Section 2C (Health-related ALP). If the Local Health Board has agreed to provide clinical services — speech and language therapy, occupational therapy, CAMHS support — those must be specified here, including frequency, start dates, and the name of the delivering clinician. Once written into 2C, the NHS is legally bound to deliver it.

Section 2D (Named Institution). Used when the child's needs require a specific school placement, specialist provision, or board and lodging arrangements.

What Used to Be Called an IEP in Wales?

Many parents still search for "IEP Wales" because that is the terminology they grew up with. Individual Education Plans existed under the old SEN framework as non-statutory planning documents maintained by schools. They were replaced by IDPs, which are statutory.

The key difference: an IEP was an internal school document with no external legal force. If the school failed to deliver on an IEP, parents had no statutory recourse beyond making a complaint. An IDP is a legal document. If a school fails to secure the Additional Learning Provision written into a school-maintained IDP, the family can escalate to the local authority and ultimately appeal to the Education Tribunal for Wales.

Who Maintains the IDP: School vs Local Authority?

This is the single most important structural feature of the Welsh ALN system that most parents do not know. In England, every statutory EHC Plan is maintained by the local authority. In Wales, the majority of IDPs are maintained by the school itself.

School-maintained IDPs are the norm when a child is registered at a maintained school and the school can reasonably secure the provision required. The school's governing body, acting through the ALNCo, holds the legal duty to prepare the IDP, secure the ALP written into it, and conduct annual reviews. In January 2025, the vast majority of the 32,127 pupils with IDPs held school-maintained plans.

LA-maintained IDPs apply in specific legally defined circumstances:

• The child is under compulsory school age and not attending a maintained school
• The child is a Looked After Child — in which case the IDP is incorporated into their Personal Education Plan
• The child is educated other than at school (EOTAS) or dual-registered
• The child is detained in a youth offender institution or secure children's home
• Most commonly for families in dispute: the child's ALN requires ALP that it would not be reasonable for the mainstream school to secure

That last threshold — "not reasonable for the school to secure" — is where disputes about complex needs concentrate. Indicators that the LA should be maintaining the IDP include: the child needing intensive daily therapy from multiple clinical disciplines, placement in an independent specialist school, or 1:1 support at a level that would exhaust the school's entire ALN budget.

If you believe your child's needs exceed what any mainstream school can reasonably provide, you and the ALNCo can request the LA to take over maintenance of the IDP. If the LA refuses, that refusal is challengeable.

The Statutory Timelines You Must Know

The IDP process runs on legally prescribed deadlines. Schools and local authorities have no discretion over these:

School-maintained process:

• You submit a written request invoking Section 11 of the ALNET Act
• School must acknowledge within 15 school days
• School has 35 school days from issuing the formal notice to prepare and finalise the IDP

LA-maintained process:

• Local authority has 12 weeks to determine ALN, determine the ALP required, and issue the final IDP

Transition from old SEN Statement to IDP:

• Once the LA issues an "IDP Notice" to transition your child, they have 12 weeks to prepare the final IDP
• During those 12 weeks, the LA must continue providing the same level of support as existed under the old Statement

None of these deadlines start unless you make a formal written request citing the correct statutory provision. A conversation at parents' evening does not start any clock.

What Makes an IDP Legally Useful vs. a Legal Fiction?

This is the question most parents only ask after they receive a draft IDP and something feels wrong about it. An IDP only protects your child if the provision in Section 2B is specified and quantified.

The ALN Code is explicit on this. Provision must state precisely what is being provided, how much, how often, and by whom.

Contrast these two entries for speech and language therapy:

Unenforceable: "The pupil will receive access to speech and language therapy support as needed."

Legally binding: "The pupil will receive 45 minutes of direct 1:1 speech and language therapy weekly from a qualified SaLT, with 30-minute indirect teacher consultation fortnightly. Sessions will begin no later than [date]."

The first version allows the school or health board to claim compliance simply by having a therapist available in principle. The second version creates a measurable, inspectable commitment.

Schools under financial pressure routinely draft IDPs in the vague format. The ALNCo is not necessarily acting in bad faith — they may be following internal templates designed to avoid over-specifying what the school's budget cannot sustain. But your child's legal protection depends on the second format.

The Wales IDP & ALN Blueprint includes a section-by-section IDP audit checklist that shows you exactly what language to accept and what to push back on before you sign any plan.

How to Request a Review If the IDP Is Inadequate

You do not have to wait for the annual review to challenge a poorly written IDP. Parents hold the right to request an earlier review at any time if circumstances change significantly or if the current ALP is failing to produce progress. Submit this request in writing to the ALNCo, stating specifically which sections of the IDP you believe are inadequate and why — ideally citing Section 2B and explaining exactly what language changes you are requesting.

If the school refuses to revise the IDP in a way that reflects your child's actual needs, you can escalate to the local authority, and from there to the Education Tribunal for Wales if necessary.

Preparing for Your First IDP Meeting

IDP meetings under the ALN system use Person-Centred Practice (PCP) frameworks. Before the meeting, you and your child (age appropriately) should prepare a One Page Profile: what people appreciate about your child, what is important to your child, and how best to support them. This forms the basis of Section 1C.

During the meeting, practitioners use a "4+1 Questions" approach: What have we tried? What have we learned? What are we pleased about? What are we concerned about? Given what we know, what should happen next?

Bring your own written evidence: any medical or diagnostic reports, therapy reports from private practitioners, school progress data, and a list of the specific provisions you are requesting in Section 2B, written in the specified-and-quantified format.

Walking into an IDP meeting without written evidence and a clear list of what you need Section 2B to say is the single biggest mistake families make.

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