Annual review coming up
The annual review is next month. It is where plans are kept right, or quietly taken apart.
We prepare you for the annual review, attend the review or co-production meeting with you, and write the response to the amended plan or the council's decision. Little Nellies is the SEND and EHCP service of Nellie Supports Ltd, a private social work practice in England.
£1,200 including VAT. 15 hours of work: preparation, attendance and the written response to the amended plan. New families take the draft review first.
At a glance
Stage
Annual review of an existing plan
Deadline in play
The council must decide within 4 weeks of the meeting
Fee
£1,200 including VAT, one price for every family
Hours included
15
Who delivers
The Little Nellies practitioner who knows the plan
Where
England only
£1,200
Fixed fee, including VAT
15 hours
Work included
4 weeks after the meeting
Council decision due
Professional help
Qualified expert MDT
Plain English explanation
What annual review representation is
Every EHC plan must be reviewed at least once a year. The school holds a meeting, writes a report, and the council decides whether to keep, amend or cease the plan. Representation is preparation before the meeting, attendance at it, and the written response to whatever the council decides afterwards.
We read the plan and the year's evidence with you, write your parental contribution so the record shows what was and was not delivered, attend the review or co-production meeting beside you, and write the response to the amended plan or the council's decision, inside the deadline.
It is not an appeal. If the council's final decision is wrong, the appeal is a separate service and the review file is its first document. Families new to the practice take the draft review on the current plan first.
What the council must do within the deadline
It must tell you within four weeks of the meeting whether it will keep, amend or cease the plan. If it amends, it must send a draft and give you 15 days to respond. If it proposes to cease, it must show that the plan is no longer necessary, and you have a right of appeal.
Is this you
Is this you?
Every plan must be reviewed at least once a year. The meeting is arranged by the school, the council rarely attends, and the paperwork is filled in around a table by people who have not read the plan since last year. Provision that was fought for drifts out. Outcomes are marked achieved because nobody remembers what they were.
The annual review is also the point at which a council can amend or cease a plan, and the point at which you can ask for the provision to be increased or the placement changed. What is said in the meeting and written in the report is what the council decides on. This service makes sure you go in prepared and come out with a written response that holds the plan together.
The review is next month and nobody has asked what I think.
Half the provision in Section F was never delivered this year.
The school wants to reduce the support and call it progress.
He is moving to secondary school and the plan does not mention it.
The council has said it is thinking about ceasing the plan.
The last review report said everything was fine and it was not.
What is included
What we do for this fee
15 hours of work around the review meeting, in five stages.
Pre-meeting call (1 hour)
Reviewing the year (4 hours)
Your parental contribution (3 hours)
Attendance (4 hours)
The written response (3 hours)
Deliverables
How this fee is calculated
This service is £1,200 including VAT, fixed at instruction, for every family. It includes the reading of the current plan against the evidence that we need to do before the meeting. That is the most you will pay for this service. If the work takes longer, we absorb it. Anything outside this scope is agreed in writing before it starts.
1
What the law requires of the review
Under section 44 of the Children and Families Act 2014 the council must review the plan at least every twelve months. Regulations 18 to 21 of the SEND Regulations 2014 set the process: the school holds the meeting, the report goes to the council within two weeks, and the council must tell you within four weeks of the meeting whether it will keep the plan as it is, amend it, or cease to maintain it. If it amends, the draft amended plan follows the same 15 day process as a new plan, and you have a right of appeal against the final version.
The plan must be reviewed every year
Four weeks to decide
Amendments follow the draft plan process
Ceasing a plan has a test
2
Evidence for keeping or changing the plan
The review report has to record whether the outcomes are being met, whether the provision is being delivered, and what needs to change. The evidence for that is the school's records, the professionals' updates and your own account of the year. Where provision has not been delivered, the review is where it is put on record. Where needs have changed, it is where the case for amendment is made.
Children and Families Act 2014, sections 44 and 51; Special Educational Needs and Disability Regulations 2014, regulations 18 to 21 and 29 (ceasing a plan); SEND Code of Practice 2015, paragraphs 9.166 to 9.210.
The test
The legal framework for an EHCP annual review
Five weeks before: instruction
We confirm the fee in writing and invoice at instruction. Send the current plan and last year's review report.
Three weeks before: the year reviewed
The school's records and professional updates read against Section F, provision by provision.
One week before: parental contribution sent
Your written contribution goes to the school so it is in the meeting papers.
The review meeting
We attend with you. The school's report goes to the council within two weeks.
Within four weeks: the council's decision
Keep, amend or cease. We write the response, and if a draft amended plan follows, the response to that inside its 15 days.
What happens and when
What happens and when
Evidence we build
Evidence we work from
The review is decided on the record of the year. We make sure the record is complete.
The current plan and last year's review report
The school's records: provision delivered, attendance, progress against outcomes
Updates from any professional involved during the year
Your own account of the year, drafted with you
Transition information where a phase change is coming
What you receive
What you receive
The pre-meeting note: what to raise and what to hold
Your parental contribution, sent to the school before the meeting
Attendance at the review or co-production meeting
A written note of what was said and agreed
The response to the council's decision, inside the deadline
The response to the draft amended plan, if one follows
Free help exists
Free help exists, and we say so
Three organisations give free, independent help with EHCPs and appeals. We name them because they are good, and because you should know what we add on top.
IPSEA
Free legally based advice on EHC needs assessments, plans and appeals, with a helpline and model letters.
SOS!SEN
A charity helpline and walk-in service giving free advice on the assessment and appeal process.
SENDIASS
Your local, free and impartial information, advice and support service, which every council must provide.
What we add
Done-for-you delivery. The evidence built and framed, the documents drafted and lodged, a regulated team, and one practitioner from the first call to the last letter.
Annual review representation
£1,200 including VAT
- 15 hours
- Preparation, attendance and the written response
- Invoiced at instruction
- For families already with the practice
No refund once work has started.
If the council refuses to amend
£5,400 including VAT
- Content appeal to the SEND Tribunal: £5,400 including VAT, paid in stages
- The work done at the review carries into it
- Hearing fee only if the hearing happens
- The team at the appeal is the team from the review
Most content appeals resolve without a hearing.
The journey
The journey, and what it costs
One fee for every family. Reading the current plan against the evidence is part of the service, so nothing is added for families new to Little Nellies. The team at the review is the team from the application.
For parents
A fixed fee you know before you start. Someone beside you in the meeting who has read every line of the plan. A written response inside the deadline.
For SENCOs and professionals who refer
We work with the school, not against it. The parental contribution goes to you before the meeting so the record is agreed rather than disputed.
Why us
Why families choose Little Nellies for the annual review
The annual review is where continuity matters most. The practitioner who attends is the one who knows the plan, and where we built it, the one who built it. Little Nellies delivers this through a regulated team of registered social workers and a Chartered Psychologist, with the response written so the council is on record.
Why families choose Little Nellies
The team at the review is the team from the application
Every provision checked against what was delivered
Parental contribution on the record before the meeting
One practitioner for the duration
Registered social workers and a Chartered Psychologist
Response inside the council's deadline
A mother booked us five weeks before her son's Year 6 annual review, the one that would carry his plan into secondary school. The plan named two hours a week of specialist teaching and a speech and language programme. Neither had been delivered since Easter, and the school's review paperwork did not mention it.
We went through the plan and the year's records with her, and wrote a parental contribution that set each Section F provision against what had actually been delivered, with dates. It went to the school a week before the meeting.
We attended the review with her. The school accepted the gaps in delivery. The council's officer, who had joined by phone, agreed that the transition needed the provision restated and the secondary placement named.
The council's decision came within four weeks: amend. The draft amended plan arrived with the provision restored and the secondary school named in Section I. Our written response asked for two further changes to Section B, both accepted in the final version.
This is an illustrative composite. It does not describe any individual family, and it is not a promise about any outcome.
In practice
Frequently asked questions
How often must an EHCP be reviewed?
At least every twelve months, and earlier at key transitions such as the move to secondary school or post-16. The council must decide within four weeks of the meeting whether to keep, amend or cease the plan.
Can the council reduce the provision at an annual review?
Only by amending the plan, which means a draft amended plan, a 15 day response window and a right of appeal against the final version. It cannot reduce provision by letting the review report say less.
What if the provision in the plan was never delivered?
The council has a legal duty to secure the provision in Section F. The review is where the gap goes on record, and the written response asks for it to be restored and, where needed, made up.
How much does annual review representation cost with Little Nellies?
£1,200 including VAT, fixed, for 15 hours of preparation, attendance and the written response. Families new to the practice take the draft review on the current plan first, so the new family route is £1,200 including VAT.
Can the council cease my child's plan at the review?
Only if it is no longer necessary, and it must consult you first. A decision to cease carries a right of appeal, and the plan stays in force until the appeal is decided.
Are you solicitors?
No. Little Nellies is the SEND and EHCP service of Nellie Supports Ltd, a private social work practice. We do not give regulated legal advice, and where a case needs a solicitor we say so.
Read more
Related EHCP guides
The first step for families new to the practice, and the response if a draft amended plan follows the review.
If the final amended plan is wrong in Sections B, F or I, the appeal to the SEND Tribunal.
Where the review shows the evidence base for the plan is out of date, primary assessment as compliant reports.
Other stages
Book a call
Book your free 15-minute call
Tell us where you are: what has been sent, what the council has said, and the date on the letter. On the call we confirm the stage, the deadline in play and whether this is the right service. We do not give advice on the call and we do not pressure you to buy.
Written by Ben Slater, Founder and Principal Social Worker, registered social worker (Social Work England). Reviewed by Ben Slater, Principal Social Worker, registered with Social Work England. Last reviewed 10 September 2026. Read our editorial policy.