Can an EHCP be taken away from my child?

Yes, but only if the council is no longer responsible for your child or decides a plan is genuinely no longer necessary, and the plan stays in force while you appeal to the SEND Tribunal. The council cannot remove an EHC plan whenever it likes. Section 45 of the Children and Families Act 2014 gives it just two grounds, and nothing else counts.

The two grounds the council has to meet

A council can cease to maintain a plan only where it is no longer responsible for your child, for example because your family has moved permanently to another council's area, or where it decides it is no longer necessary for the plan to be maintained. ‘No longer necessary’ means the special educational provision the plan secures is genuinely no longer needed, judged against your child's assessed needs. Coping a bit better is not the test. The Upper Tribunal confirmed in 2024 (AB v East Sussex County Council) that the council must first set out what provision your child needs, then ask whether they would still meet the test for a plan today. If they would, it is hard to argue the plan is no longer necessary, and ‘outcomes achieved’ must not be a tick-box exercise.

What is not a lawful reason

Many cease decisions arrive dressed up as something automatic. None of these, on its own, lets the council take the plan away:

Your child's placement has broken down and they are currently out of education. The council must review the plan in that situation, not end it.
A letter says ‘outcomes have been met’. That phrase alone is not the legal test.
Your young person has turned 19. Age by itself is never a ground to cease, as IPSEA sets out. A plan can run up to age 25 where education or training outcomes are not yet met.

The council has to consult you first

Ceasing is a process, not a single letter. Before it decides, the council must tell you in writing that it is considering ceasing, and it must consult you and a senior person at your child's school or setting first (regulations 30 and 31 of the SEND Regulations 2014). A cease decision usually follows an annual review, so the way you prepare for the review is your first chance to challenge the council's thinking before any decision is made.

You can appeal, and the plan keeps running

A decision to cease carries a right of appeal to the First-tier Tribunal, the SEND Tribunal (section 51 of the Act). This is the protection most pages miss: the council must keep maintaining the plan in full until your time to appeal has run out, and, if you do appeal, until the appeal is finally decided. Your child does not lose a single hour of support while the case is live. An appeal must reach the Tribunal no later than two months from the date on the council's decision letter, or one month from the date on your mediation certificate, whichever is later. If you decide to appeal the cease decision, the provision in the plan continues throughout.

What about the proposed reforms?

You may have seen news about EHCPs being replaced. The Schools White Paper of February 2026 and the Education for All Bill proposed in May 2026 set out a direction toward a new Individual Support Plan and a narrower EHCP for the most complex needs. None of this changes the law for your child's plan now. There are no changes before September 2030, current plan holders are protected to their next phase transfer or to age 16, and the section 45 test the council must meet today is exactly as set out above.