How long does an LA have to issue an amended EHCP after a review?

Within 8 weeks: an LA must issue the final amended EHCP within 8 weeks of sending the draft amended plan, and within 12 weeks of the review meeting overall. These are binding statutory deadlines, not targets. The 8-week limit sits in Regulation 22 of the SEND Regulations 2014; the four-week decision step that opens the clock sits in Regulation 20. The overall 12 weeks runs from the date of the review meeting to the day the finalised amended plan is sent.

Where the 12 weeks comes from

The headline figure people remember is the 8 weeks, but on its own it is easy to misread, because it does not run from the review meeting. It runs from the day you send the draft amended plan. The 12-week cap is the sum of three steps:

The 15-day representations window for the parent or young person sits inside the 8 weeks, not on top of it. So the binding outer limit is the 12 weeks from the review meeting, with the 8-week sub-limit running from the date the draft amended plan was sent.

Why this matters: these are fixed, not "as soon as practicable"

The information most summaries bury is that these are fixed statutory deadlines. They are sometimes treated as the softer as soon as practicable wording that also appears in Regulation 22, but the High Court settled the point in R (L, M, P) v Devon County Council [2022] EWHC 493 (Admin), confirming that the post-review timescales are fixed, binding requirements: the notice of proposed amendments within 4 weeks of the meeting, and the final amended plan within 8 weeks of that notice, giving a 12-week maximum overall. Missing them exposes the authority to a complaint, a Tribunal appeal once the final plan is issued, or judicial review for the delay itself. Two further points worth holding:

• Phase-transfer reviews run to a different date. Where the review is the one that moves a child to a new phase of education, the amended plan must be issued by 15 February in the relevant year, or by 31 March where the transfer is into a post-16 institution, not on the rolling 12-week count.
• The reform direction does not change today's law. The 2026 Schools White Paper and the Education for All Bill propose Individual Support Plans and narrowing EHCPs to the most complex needs from 2035, but no change takes effect before September 2030. The current timescales remain in force and existing plan holders are protected.

For the underlying duty that sets these reviews in motion, see the LA's duty at an annual review.

This page is general information, not clinical or legal advice.