What are a local authority's duties under the Children and Families Act 2014?

Under the Children and Families Act 2014, a local authority in England must assess SEN, issue and maintain an EHC plan where needed, secure the provision it specifies, and review it at least yearly.

The core duties, section by section

Part 3 of the Act sets out five duties that run through every Education, Health and Care (EHC) plan an authority holds, each tied to a numbered section. For an officer scoping a decision or defending a timescale, these are the load-bearing ones.

1. Assess (s.36). When asked, or where it appears one may be necessary, the authority must decide whether to carry out an EHC needs assessment, consult, and give reasons if it declines.
2. Prepare and maintain (s.37). Where an assessment shows a plan is required, the authority must prepare it and keep it in force, specifying the needs, the outcomes sought, and the special educational provision required.
3. Secure the provision (s.42). The authority must secure the special educational provision named in Section F of the plan. The named health body, the integrated care board, must arrange any health care provision in Section G.
4. Review (s.44). The authority must review each plan within 12 months of it first being made, and within each 12 months after that, consulting the parent or young person.
5. Cease only on lawful grounds (s.45). The authority may stop maintaining a plan only where it is no longer responsible for the child or young person, or where special educational provision through a plan is no longer necessary.

Wrapped around these are the timescales in Chapter 9 of the SEND Code of Practice 2015: 6 weeks to decide whether to assess, and 20 weeks from the request to a final plan, subject to a short list of exceptions. The detail sits in our note on the 20-week EHCP timescale.

The qualifier officers most often miss

The Section 42 duty is the one to hold onto. It is an absolute duty owed to the individual child or young person, not a resource-dependent best-efforts duty. It is not discharged by delegating delivery to a school or a provider, and it bites from the date the final plan is issued. If the provision in Section F is not actually in place from that date, the authority is in breach, and that breach is enforceable regardless of budget pressure. How far that reaches is set out in our note on the duty to secure Section F provision, and the same discipline applies at each annual review and when you consider whether you can cease to maintain a plan.

What the 2026 reforms change (and what they do not)

The February 2026 Schools White Paper proposes Individual Support Plans and narrowing EHC plans toward children with the most complex needs over the longer term. That is direction of travel, not operative law. Every duty above remains in full force. The government has stated that no changes to EHC plan support begin before September 2030, and that current plan holders are protected. Officers should apply the current sections today and treat the White Paper as a planning signal, not a change in what the authority must do now. The position is set out on the DfE Education Hub.

The practical effect for casework:

• Decide assessment requests on the s.36 test as it stands, within the 6-week window.
• Secure Section F provision from the day the final plan issues, without waiting on resource sign-off.
• Run annual reviews to the s.44 cycle, and only cease a plan where one of the s.45 grounds is met.

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