Management Information Sheet

Thank you to all schools and settings who attended our recent twilight sessions on EHCP Annual Reviews where we shared key information about the partnership of educational settings and NCC to deliver high quality Annual Reviews for children with EHCPs.

Further to these twilight sessions, we have developed a new toolkit for educational settings providing essential information to all those involved in preparing for Annual Reviews meetings, holding the meeting and issuing follow on reports to NCC, parents and professionals after. This new guidance replaces existing guidance from 2018 and reflects best practice for ensuring Annual Reviews meetings and the local authority Annual Review decisions are completed within timescales and are high quality.

From 2022, the Department for Education will be actively seeking performance data from all local authorities on their compliance with Annual Review timescales. This will be published as part of the Annual "SEN2" EHCP DfE Census. NCC is therefore reliant on our partners in education settings to ensure all EHCP Annual Reviews meetings are undertaken within timescales.

Annual Reviews comprise of 5 stages, each has its own required timescale set out in legislation:

1. Preparation for the Annual Review meeting: usually led by educational settings
2. Holding the Annual Review meeting: usually led by educational settings
3. Producing and submitting a follow up report, including views from parents / young people and updated professional reports: usually led by educational settings
4. LA determine Annual Review Decision to either maintain, amend or cease an EHCP.
5. Issuing draft and final EHCPs where necessary: led by NCC

The new guidance aims to equip all educational settings with key advice and information on the Annual Review process and their role within it, along with key guidance on how to ensure the Annual Review is of high quality, is person centred and enables NCC to make good decisions based on the evidence the Annual Review meeting and reports provide. Please ensure all staff involved in Annual Reviews at your setting utilise this guidance when planning and holding Annual Review meetings.

Additionally, we have designed a new Annual Review meeting record template aiming to streamline reporting to make this simpler and more efficient for all staff involved. Whilst we will continue to accept Annual Review meeting reports on Norfolk's previous templates, we would be grateful if settings can move to the new paperwork as soon as possible. Previous paperwork will be phased out by August 2022.

All new documentations are attached and will be available on the Local Offer.

We will be holding further sessions over the next 2 terms to cover good practice on facilitating collaborative Annual Review meetings and would love to see all educational settings and professionals involved in providing advice at these. More information on those events will come soon.

Finally, we are very happy to receive any feedback on the new paperwork and toolkit. You can find out how to provide feedback by referring to the Toolkit Guidance.