EHCPs - phase transfer reviews
What is a phase transfer review?
A phase transfer review is a standard review of an EHCP that takes places in the year prior to the child moving to a new key stage.
An EHC plan must be reviewed and amended in sufficient time prior to a child or young person moving between key phases of education, to allow for planning for and, where necessary, commissioning of support and provision at the new setting. These reviews must take place before the following transfers:
- early years provider to school
- infant school to junior school
- primary school to secondary school
- secondary school to post-16 institution
Paperwork
A shorter downloadable Phase Transfer Review Form has been developed to help you to carry out reviews and to gther the information we need to update the EHC plan.
Completed forms and paperworkmust be returned to EHCP.Review@derby.gov.uk
Phase transfer timetable
| Age group | Latest date review paperwork should be received by LA following review meeting | Date EHCP must be finalised by LA (with new placement named) |
|---|---|---|
| Pre-16 transfers | 01/11/2021 | 15/02/2022 |
| Post 16 transfers (including year 11 leavers) | 31/12/2021 | 31/03/2022 |
If you are unable to meet the dates set out above you must let your linked EHCP Officer know as soon as possible. The date by which the amended final plan must be issued are set out in the Children and Families Act and must be met by the local authority.
In order to meet these dates, the review meetings need to take place in line with the date above. This will allow your EHCP Officer time to coproduce any plan amendments with the child, young person and / or their parent / carer.
Panel meetings for specialist placements to be agreed for September 2022 will take place week commencing 10/01/2022
Key points to remember
- Phase transfer reviews follow the statutory process of a standard annual review meeting. This means that you must give all attendess at least 2 weeks notice of the meeting and ensure that any reports are circulated at this point too.
- Reviewing a plan prior to transition is especially important as this will probably be the last opportunity to update the plan before they leave your setting.
- You should capture the parental (and / or CYP) preference for the next school or setting as part of the review meeting and record this on the review paperwork.
- This review meeting is a formal review so you don't need to carry out another annual review on the anniversary of the last review as well. However an annual review must be held every 12 months so you must consider this when scheduling the phase transfer review.
- Be realistic when discussing potential future placements with parents. There is no guarantee of specialist provision for any child and these decisions will always go through our resource allocation panel. Demand for specialist placements exceeds supply. The local authority will not consider an independent placement where needs can be met within the local offer.