Need to know

• An Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) is supposed to secure the support a child needs.

• A local authority has a statutory duty to secure the special educational provisions set out in an EHCP.

Welcome to TSL’s Weekly Edge, whether you’re aiming for a regional or high-street practice, or just want to get a feel for how law works in the real world beyond textbooks, you’re in the right place. 

No corporate jargon, no massive deals, just real useful information designed to give you that extra edge in your legal journey.

🧠Wilson’s Weekly Wisdom

There was a time when I would’ve given anything to be where I am today.

So on the days I’m tired after a long day at work, I try to remind myself of something: this is the career I once hoped, prayed and worked tirelessly for.

Of course, being grateful doesn’t mean you can’t feel exhausted. But every now and then, it’s worth pausing to remember the version of yourself who would’ve been overjoyed just to have this opportunity.

Work hard, look after yourself, and never lose sight of the fact that living the dream doesn’t mean you won’t have difficult days. It simply means you’re standing in a place your younger self once only imagined.

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💡Spotlight Article

An Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) is supposed to secure the support a child needs.

But what happens when the support written into the plan’s not being delivered?

It’s a frustrating reality for families, and the legal position’s not always straightforward. 

🔎What’s happening? 

Under the Children and Families Act 2014, a local authority has a statutory duty to secure the special educational provisions set out in an EHCP. It’s not only paperwork. The wording matters, and it carries legal weight.

Section 42(2) says a local authority “must secure” the provision in an EHCP. Not “should try”. Not “use reasonable endeavours”. Must secure.

If healthcare provision’s included, s.42(3) puts a similar duty on the responsible commissioning body to arrange it, with the courts taking that wording seriously.

In R (on the application of A) v North Central London Integrated Care Board [2025], the Court of Appeal confirmed that the s.42(3) duty’s mandatory and cannot be passed to someone else. This means a public body cannot point to a provider and say, “We asked them to sort it.” The legal duty stays with them.

But having a legal duty and enforcing it are two different things. An EHCP can give a child an obvious entitlement without making the route to enforcement crystal clear.

So, what happens when the plan exists, the provision’s specified, but the support still isn’t being delivered?

That was the dilemma in R (DOL) v Southampton City Council [2026].

In DOL, the council had failed to put the support in an amended EHCP into practice, despite a First-tier Tribunal decision. It then decided to wait for its Upper Tribunal application to be sorted. The High Court was upfront that the decision was unlawful.

For that reason, the case highlights the important distinction: having an EHCP is one thing; enforcing it is another.

It’s easy to assume that any EHCP dispute belongs before the Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) Tribunal. But it’s not a one-size-fits-all route for every SEND legal issue when support set out in a plan simply isn’t being delivered. If a public body’s failed to do what the law requires, judicial review may be the route to look at instead.

What then could parents do when the support promised on paper’s nowhere to be seen in practice?

❓ Why it matters to high street firms

The legal position may be apparent, but for parents and the firms advising them, the difficulty lies in working out where to go next, who’s responsible and which route would get the ball rolling because:

1. Rights only matter if you can act on them

For a parent whose child’s missing support’s set out in an EHCP, the question’s immediate: what can we do about it?

Early advice can help separate two very different issues: challenging what an EHCP says and enforcing provision that’s already in it. Choosing the wrong mechanisms could mean parents finding themselves going round in circles.

2. SEND disputes rarely stay in one lane

A school or specialist provider might be named to deliver therapy or support, while the legal duty to fund or arrange it sits elsewhere.

That could mean the local authority for education and social care, or the local integrated care board for healthcare. Knowing who carries the legal duty matters. Otherwise, everyone can end up pointing at others while the child waits, and unjustifiably so.

3. Shared responsibility still means someone must act

When several organisations are involved in an EHCP, it can quickly become unclear who is supposed to fix the problem. That creates both practical and legal risks.

For firms working with children and young people with SEND, good advice means anticipating what comes next: diagnosing the problem, identifying the right route and keeping any response suited to the situation.

This is especially important with The Schools White Paper 2026 proposing significant SEND reform. Changes to EHCP support are not expected to begin before September 2030, so for today’s clients, the existing framework’s the one that counts.

The point is, the system may be changing, but the problems families are facing right now aren’t waiting for it. For parents and practitioners alike, the key’s knowing who has the duty, what has gone wrong and what can be done about it.

SEND Tribunal

It’s an independent specialist tribunal for specific disputes, minus the wigs and theatrics.

It hears appeals to do with education, health and care needs
assessments and what an EHCP contains.

However, be mindful that the Tribunal’s not a blanket
route for every legal SEND issue.