EHCP reports for independent SLTs, OTs and psychologists: structure and template

An EHCP professional report is a specialist report that sets out a child's needs, the outcomes to aim for and the provision required, written so that a local authority can copy it into an education, health and care (EHC) plan.

This guide is for independent SLTs, OTs and psychologists. Parents often commission these reports for an EHC needs assessment, an annual review or an appeal. The reader is not a colleague. It is a caseworker, a panel or a tribunal judge who decides what goes in the plan.

The EHC plan system described here is the one in England. The gov.uk guide to EHC plan appeals says the process is different in Wales, in Scotland and in Northern Ireland. If you practise there, check the local framework before you use this template.

What the law asks an EHC plan to contain

Section 37(2) of the Children and Families Act 2014 says an EHC plan specifies the child's special educational needs, the outcomes sought, the special educational provision required, and any health care and social care provision reasonably required. Section 42 then says the local authority "must secure the specified special educational provision". This is why vague wording matters.

Regulation 12 of the Special Educational Needs and Disability Regulations 2014 lists the sections of the plan. Each must be separately identified.

• Section A: the views, interests and aspirations of the child and parents, or of the young person.
• Section B: the child's special educational needs.
• Section C: health care needs that relate to those special educational needs.
• Section D: social care needs that relate to special educational needs or a disability.
• Section E: the outcomes sought.
• Section F: the special educational provision required.
• Section G: health care provision reasonably required by the learning difficulties or disabilities.
• Sections H1 and H2: social care provision.
• Section I: the name and type of school or other institution.
• Section J: the special educational needs and outcomes to be met by any direct payment.
• Section K: the advice and information gathered during the assessment, set out in appendices.

Regulation 12(3) adds that, from year 9, the plan must include provision to help prepare the young person for adulthood and independent living.

For SLTs, the RCSLT points to paragraph 9.74 of the Code. As quoted by the RCSLT, it says provision addressing speech and language impairment should normally be recorded as special educational provision unless there are exceptional reasons. The RCSLT also cites paragraph 9.73: health or social care provision that educates or trains a child must be treated as special educational provision and included in section F. In practice, much of what an SLT, OT or psychologist recommends may belong in section F, where the local authority's duty to secure it applies.

Where a private report fits in the process

When a local authority carries out an EHC needs assessment, regulation 6 sets out whose advice it must seek. This includes the parent or young person, the school, a health care professional identified by the responsible commissioning body, an educational psychologist, social care, any other person the authority thinks appropriate, and any person the parent or young person reasonably asks it to consult. Regulation 7 requires the authority to consider information provided to it by, or at the request of, the child, the parent or the young person.

A report commissioned by parents sits next to the advice from the school, health services and the educational psychologist. It carries weight when it is precise, current and easy to lift into the plan.

Timescales are tight. The gov.uk guide says the local authority will tell parents within 16 weeks whether a plan will be made, and must issue the final plan within 20 weeks of the request. Parents get at least 15 days to comment on the draft. When the authority asks a body to co-operate with the assessment, regulation 8 gives that body 6 weeks to comply, with some exceptions. The RCSLT guidance, citing the Code, also says advice requested by the local authority must be provided within six weeks of the request.

If the family appeals to the SEND Tribunal, the gov.uk guide says the appeal must reach the tribunal within 2 months of the decision letter, or within a month of the mediation certificate if that is later. In most cases parents must talk to a mediation adviser first. The guide also lists expert witnesses among the people who usually attend a hearing, and parents must fill in a case review form to bring witnesses. Write as if you may have to defend every line.

What a good EHCP report brings

The RCSLT guidance for SLTs under the Children and Families Act 2014 gives the clearest professional-body advice we found. Its points work for OTs and psychologists too.

• Clear, accessible and specific advice. The RCSLT quotes this wording from the Code.
• Needs, not resources. Advice should describe what the child needs, not what services happen to be available.
• No school names. The RCSLT says SLTs should not name schools. They can describe the communication environment that would meet the child's needs.
• Quantified provision. Provision should be clearly specified and quantified, and the type and amount of input should be based on available evidence and best practice.
• SMART outcomes. Outcomes should be specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time bound. They describe the change in the child, not the service. "Three hours of speech and language therapy" is not an outcome.
• Delivery by others. If school staff will deliver an intervention, say what the intervention is, how often, which staff skills are needed, how much specialist support they get and how often you will monitor it.

We did not find equivalent EHC plan guidance from the RCOT in our research. OTs can still use the same structure below.

Structure: by area of need, then by outcome

The RCSLT suggests four parts: background, the child's skills, suggested outcomes and provision. The core of the report is a set of repeated blocks, one per area of need. Each block links a need to an outcome and to provision. A caseworker can then copy each block into sections B, E and F without rewriting it.

Group needs in a way that suits your profession. An SLT might use receptive language, expressive language, speech sounds and social communication. An OT might use fine motor skills, sensory processing and self-care. A psychologist might use cognition and learning, attention and emotional wellbeing.

EHCP professional report template

Copy these headings in order. The prompts in each item tell you what to write.

1. Report details. Child's name, date of birth, school and year group. Who commissioned the report and why. Assessment dates. Your profession, HCPC number and relevant experience.
2. Sources of information. Assessments used, dated observations, people consulted and documents read.
3. Background. A brief pen portrait. Relevant history, previous therapy and how the child responded. Put long case histories in an appendix.
4. The child's views and the family's views. What the child says about school, what is hard and what helps. What the parents hope for. This can inform section A.
5. Summary of strengths. What the child does well.
6. Needs by area (for section B). One heading per area. For each, describe the need in plain words, give the evidence (scores with the test named, observation, teacher report), and explain the impact on learning, friendships and daily life at school. Avoid labels on their own. "Has a language disorder" says little. "Follows one-part instructions in class but loses two-part instructions without a visual prompt" says a lot.
7. Suggested outcomes (for section E). For each area, one or two SMART outcomes. State the end point, the context and the time frame, usually the end of the key stage. Add short steps towards it if helpful.
8. Provision (for section F). For each outcome, list the provision. Say what (named approach or programme), who delivers it and with what training, how often and for how long, group size, and how and when progress is measured. Include direct therapy, staff training, programme design and review time.
9. Health needs and provision (sections C and G), if relevant. For example eating and drinking needs, or equipment. The RCSLT says section C should list health needs that relate to the child's special educational needs.
10. Learning environment. The type of setting, class size, adult support and adaptations the child needs. Do not name a school.
11. Preparation for adulthood (from year 9). Independence, communication and skills for the next phase.
12. Summary table in list form. Area of need, outcome, provision, frequency, who. This is the page caseworkers copy.
13. Declaration and signature. Date, signature, and a statement that the opinions are your own and within your expertise.
14. Appendices. Full scores and detailed history.

For more detail on the assessment part itself, see our speech and language therapy assessment report template, the occupational therapy assessment report template and the psychological assessment report framework.

Vague versus specific: three rewrites

• Vague: "Would benefit from regular speech and language therapy." Specific: "Direct therapy with an HCPC-registered SLT, 1 session of 45 minutes a week in a small group of up to 3 children, for 30 weeks of the school year, targeting vocabulary and narrative."
• Vague: "Access to sensory breaks as needed." Specific: "A sensory programme designed by an OT and reviewed each half term, delivered by a trained teaching assistant for 10 minutes before each morning and afternoon lesson block."
• Vague: "Support with social skills." Specific: "A weekly social communication group of 30 minutes, run by staff trained by the SLT, with SLT supervision of 1 hour per half term."

Words such as "regular", "access to" and "as needed" leave the quantity open. Use numbers you can justify.

Fictional example (anonymised, for illustration only)

This example is invented. It does not describe a real child. The scores and wording are illustrations, not clinical guidance.

Child: "Sam", aged 7, year 3 at a mainstream primary school. Report commissioned by the parents for an EHC needs assessment. Seen at home and observed in class over two visits.

Area of need 1: understanding of language (section B). On a standardised language assessment, Sam's understanding of spoken sentences fell well below the range expected for his age. In class, he followed one-part instructions. He missed the second part of longer instructions unless the teacher showed a picture. He says lessons are "too fast".

Outcome (section E). By the end of year 4, Sam will follow two-part classroom instructions with a visual prompt in 4 out of 5 observed occasions, measured by his class teacher and SLT each term.

Provision (section F).

• Direct SLT, 1 session of 40 minutes a week, individual or pair, for 30 weeks a year, targeting understanding of instructions and concept vocabulary.
• A daily language programme of 15 minutes, written by the SLT and delivered by a teaching assistant who has had at least 2 hours of training from the SLT.
• SLT liaison with school staff of 1 hour per half term, and a written review each term.

Area of need 2: telling and retelling events. The same block repeats: need with evidence, outcome, provision. The final page lists both areas in one summary list for the caseworker.

How Delta can help with the writing

Delta is an AI assistant for mental health and allied health practitioners. Besides session reports, it drafts assessment reports, letters and certificates, which you review and validate before anything is sent. You can dictate your observations after an assessment, add written notes, and then shape the draft using the headings above. Each report is added to the client file, so the history of the follow-up stays in one place. Data is hosted in France with a host certified for health data (HDS, the French health data hosting certification), AI processing runs on servers in France, the child's name and identifying details are pseudonymised before AI processing, no audio file is kept, data is never used to train models, and data is encrypted in transit and at rest. You can see how this works for speech and language therapists and occupational therapists. The professional judgement and the final wording stay yours.

Related reading in this series: speech and language therapy reports in the UK and occupational therapy reports for school, housing and autism.

Sources

• Children and Families Act 2014, section 37: legislation.gov.uk
• Children and Families Act 2014, section 42: legislation.gov.uk
• SEND Regulations 2014, regulation 6: legislation.gov.uk
• SEND Regulations 2014, regulation 7: legislation.gov.uk
• SEND Regulations 2014, regulation 8: legislation.gov.uk
• SEND Regulations 2014, regulation 12: legislation.gov.uk
• gov.uk, Children with special educational needs and disabilities: extra help: gov.uk
• gov.uk, Appeal an EHC plan decision: overview, appeal as a parent, what happens at the hearing
• RCSLT, Guidance for speech and language therapists on their roles and responsibilities under the Children and Families Act 2014: rcslt.org
• RCSLT, Education and health care (EHC) plans and speech and language therapy provision: rcslt.org