Guidance

Carry out an order in special educational needs cases

Updated 1 November 2023

Applies to England

What the local authority must do

Our order is binding on the local authority. The local authority must do what has been ordered.

Local authority time limits

The local authority has a time limit within which it must carry out an order. This is from the day we send out the order.

The time limit can vary depending on the type of order. The following are some of the common orders and the time limit within which the local authority must carry them out by:

• start the education, health and care (EHC) assessment or the reassessment process – within 2 weeks
• make and maintain a statement or an EHC plan – within 5 weeks
• change a statement or an EHC plan – within 5 weeks
• continue to maintain a statement or an EHC plan – with immediate effect
• change the name of the school named in your child’s statement or EHC plan to a school named by you – within 2 weeks
• cancel (no longer maintain) an EHC plan – with immediate effect

School admission

If we order the local authority to name a different school in your child’s statement or EHC plan, the school must admit the child. This covers schools that are maintained by a local authority and includes mainstream and special schools. However, this does not overrule any exclusion from the school.

The duty to admit a child starts as soon as the statement or EHC plan is made. This means that there may be a delay after we make the order until the local authority issues the statement or EHC plan.

Exceptions to time limits

The local authority can have more time if:

• exceptional personal circumstances affect you or your child during the relevant time period
• you or your child are absent from the area of the local authority for a continuous period of 2 weeks or longer during the relevant time period
• you indicate to the local authority that you want to make representations about the content of the statement or EHC plan after the 15-day period for making representations has ended
• you’ve had a meeting with the local authority and there needs to be another meeting before a decision can be made
• the local authority has written to the Secretary of State for Education asking for consent to a relevant school placement and the local authority have not had a response after 3 weeks

For more information you can access the full regulations.

After a decision has been made

Once we have issued our decision we cannot take any further action. We have no power to supervise how and when the order is carried out. Even if the local authority does not carry out an order within the time limit, we cannot take further action.

If the local authority does not carry out an order

If the local authority does not carry out our order within the time limit without a good reason, you can make a complaint.

You must make a complaint to the local authority first. If you are unhappy with the outcome, or the local authority takes more than 12 weeks to look into your complaint, then you can complain to the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman.