Looked After Children and EHCP: The Role of the Virtual School Head

Children in the care system with special educational needs carry a double vulnerability. Their SEND needs may be complex and longstanding. Their care history may have created additional barriers to education. And the adults responsible for advocating for them — foster carers, social workers, prospective adopters — are often navigating two separate statutory systems simultaneously without a clear map of how they intersect.

The good news is that looked after children with SEND have stronger statutory protections than most parents realise. Understanding the role of the Virtual School Head, how Pupil Premium Plus works, and what the post-2023 changes to legal aid mean for Looked After Children can transform how you advocate for a child in care.

Who Is the Virtual School Head?

Every local authority in England is required by statute to employ a Virtual School Head (VSH). The VSH holds legal responsibility for promoting the educational achievement of all looked-after and previously looked-after children within their local authority's jurisdiction.

"Virtual school" does not mean an online school. It refers to the way the VSH manages a "virtual roll" of children — keeping track of each looked-after child's educational placement, progress, and needs regardless of which school they actually attend. The VSH monitors and champions looked-after children across multiple schools and settings simultaneously.

The VSH's specific duties include:

• Ensuring every looked-after child has a high-quality, up-to-date Personal Education Plan (PEP) completed promptly at each review
• Managing the distribution and monitoring of Pupil Premium Plus (PP+) funding for looked-after children
• Working with the child's school, social worker, and carers to ensure SEND needs are identified and addressed quickly
• Supporting smooth educational transitions — including when children move between placements or local authorities
• Acting as a powerful internal advocate within the LA for children whose educational needs are being overlooked

The VSH is, in effect, an embedded SEND advocate within the local authority. Foster carers and prospective adopters should know who the VSH is in their local authority, make contact early, and actively use the VSH as an escalation route when schools are not meeting a looked-after child's needs.

Personal Education Plans and the EHCP

Every looked-after child must have a Personal Education Plan (PEP). This is not the same as an EHCP. The PEP is a planning and monitoring document focused on the child's educational progress, targets, and wellbeing. It is reviewed at least three times a year and is part of the broader statutory care planning documentation.

For children with both looked-after status and an EHCP, the PEP and EHCP exist alongside each other. In practice, the Annual EHCP Review should be coordinated with PEP reviews to avoid duplication and ensure consistency. The VSH should be involved in or informed of significant EHCP decisions.

If a looked-after child does not have an EHCP but you believe they need one, the PEP review is an appropriate moment to formally request that the LA considers an EHCNA. The VSH can support this request. Importantly, you do not need to wait for PEP reviews — any parent, carer, or the child (if over 16) can request an EHCNA at any time under Section 36(1) of the Children and Families Act 2014.

Pupil Premium Plus: What It Is and How It Should Be Used

Pupil Premium Plus (PP+) is additional funding allocated to schools for looked-after and previously looked-after children. As of 2024/25, PP+ for looked-after children is £2,945 per pupil per year. For previously looked-after children (adopted or subject to special guardianship orders), it is £2,570 per year.

This funding is not a top-up to EHCP provision. EHCP provision — the specific educational support outlined in Section F — must be funded by the local authority separately. PP+ is intended to address the additional educational disadvantage associated with care experience, not to substitute for statutory EHCP provision.

In practice, some schools blur this line and use PP+ to fund support that should properly be funded through the EHCP. If you suspect this is happening, ask the school directly: is any of the support specified in Section F of the EHCP being funded through Pupil Premium Plus rather than through the EHCP funding stream? If it is, the LA is potentially using Pupil Premium to meet a statutory EHCP duty — which is not permissible.

The VSH is responsible for scrutinising how PP+ is spent and ensuring it is delivering genuine educational benefit. Raise concerns about PP+ usage directly with the VSH.

Legal Aid for Looked After Children: A Changed Landscape

Following a significant legal challenge resolved in 2023, the legal aid rules for SEND Tribunal appeals involving Looked After Children changed materially.

Previously, foster carers and prospective adopters seeking legal aid for SEND appeals were subjected to the same strict means test as any other applicant — household income below approximately £2,657 per month, disposable income below £733, and capital below £8,000.

Now, foster carers and prospective adopters acting on behalf of a Looked After Child can apply for Exceptional Case Funding for SEND Tribunal appeals without being means-tested. The financial eligibility threshold is effectively waived in these circumstances.

This is a significant and underused entitlement. If you are fostering a child and facing a SEND Tribunal dispute about their EHCP, you should not be excluded from legal aid on financial grounds. Contact a legal aid provider specialising in education law to explore this route.

Admissions Protections for Looked After Children

Looked-after children receive the highest priority in school admissions under the School Admissions Code. When a child's EHCP needs to name a new school — whether due to a placement change, a phase transfer, or a care placement move — this admissions priority applies.

Local authorities have a specific duty to ensure that looked-after children are not left without a school place. If a school move is required at short notice due to a change in care placement, the Virtual School Head should be your first call to expedite a school place within the new area.

For looked-after children moving between local authority areas, the receiving local authority takes on responsibility for the EHCP immediately. However, in practice, transfers are often handled slowly, and children can fall through the gap. The outgoing authority's VSH and the incoming authority's VSH should both be actively managing the transition.

Using the VSH as an Escalation Route

The Virtual School Head is one of the most powerful, underused resources available to carers of looked-after children with SEND. Because the VSH is an employee of the LA itself — not a parent outside the system — they have internal leverage that individual families do not.

If the school is not implementing the child's EHCP provision, tell the VSH. If the PEP is not being completed to an adequate standard, raise it with the VSH. If the EHCP has not been reviewed despite a significant change in the child's needs, the VSH can push for an urgent review.

This does not mean the VSH always acts as a fully independent advocate — they remain an LA employee subject to the same budget pressures. But used strategically alongside the formal SEND Tribunal route when necessary, the VSH's internal influence can resolve issues faster than an external complaint.

For looked-after children navigating the SEND system, the England SEND Tribunal Playbook includes specific guidance on EHCP rights for children in care, how to coordinate the EHCP and PEP, and template letters for escalating placement and provision disputes with the support of the Virtual School Head.

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