Contributor EHC Hub Guide

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Ideas, solutions, suggestions, hints and procedures from this document are the intellectual property of Idox plc and thus protected by copyright. They may not be reproduced, transmitted to third parties or used in any form for commercial purposes without the express permission of Idox Group.

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About this document

This document is a guide for persons involved in providing advice to a child or young person’s Education, Health and Care (EHC) Needs Assessment or views as part of a review of an EHC Plan using the EHC Hub.

In the context of this document, “the contributor role” relates specifically to the level of access and permissions granted to an EHC Hub user account.

Depending on local practice, a person accessing the EHC Hub with the contributor role may include any professional within education, health and care involved in directly responding to requests for information or the allocation or management within a team of contributors.

The local authority has control and responsibility for granting the contributor role to relevant persons, to link relevant persons to teams and designate managers within teams.

This document is intended as a basis for local authorities to use to produce their own version, specifically tailored for their local communities.

Local authorities may choose to add additional best practice information that reflects local policy/ process or divide the document up into several shorter documents that specifically focus on certain areas of the EHC Hub.

Introduction

Since the introduction of The Children & Families Act 2014 and the SEN Code of Practice (2014), local authorities across England have been implementing new processes and pathways to support children and young people with Special Educational Needs and / or Disabilities (SEND). In place of Statements and Learning Disability Assessments, local authorities have a duty to provide an Education, Health & Care Plan (EHCP) for children and young people aged up to 25 who need more support than is already available.

At the heart of the new legislation is a vision of collaborative working across Health, Education and Social Care and an engaging person-centred approach to the whole EHC pathway. However, the administrative processes currently in place to facilitate such an approach is a significant barrier that has left many local authorities struggling to sustain the volume of work, as well as to meet the statutory timeframes set by the Code (SEND Code of Practice 2014).

For many local authorities, the years since the introduction of the reforms has been a challenging period of significant change set against the backdrop of increased demand and ever-challenging budgets. A new way of working is needed, that not only supports local authorities to meet their statutory obligations more efficiently, but that achieves the SEND Code’s core principle of the child or young person being at the heart of everything we do.

Idox’s EHC Hub is an innovative digital platform for families, professionals and education settings to engage, contribute and collaborate on EHC assessments, plans and reviews. It provides an end-to-end solution for the two core statutory pathways: The twenty-week assessment and planning process and subsequently, the review of those EHC Plans. It puts the child or young person and their family at the heart of these processes and provides easy, secure access for all other case stakeholders to actively contribute and view information.

Putting children, young people and their families at the heart of the EHC process

For children, young people and their families, SENCos, education settings and professionals across education, health and social care, the Hub can be a one-stop digital resource for them to access and contribute information throughout their EHC journeys.

It can be accessed 24 hours a day on a smartphone, tablet or computer and is designed to be easy and intuitive to use without any need for formal training.

One of its most powerful features is the opportunity that it provides to truly capture the child or young person’s voice. The About Me and My Parent / Carer’s Views areas are unique multimedia spaces for uploading short video clips, photographs and scanned documents alongside written text to capture a dynamic narrative about their aspirations at the assessment stage, and later for Section A of the EHC Plan.

The EHC Hub offers:

• Online EHC assessment request pathway, including uploading/ sharing reports and or documents

• EHC case tracker with clear, contextual information advice and guidance as well as complete visibility of the statutory timeframes that relate to their case (review and assessment)

• Multimedia spaces to capture the child, young person & families views

• Secure 24/7 online access to all key information, documentation and reports

• Draft EHC plan consultation with ability to submit comments and feedback

• EHCP Review meeting information and invitations

• Ability to provide views/ feedback ahead of the EHC Review meeting

• Automated email alerts and notifications of case updates

• Access for advocates or independent support workers

• Access to multiple child/ Young person’s cases via the one login

• Download and save/ print all online case information

• Visibility of the Case Timeline to see all recent case activity

The Needs Assessment Request Process

An account is not required to request a needs assessment, it is not possible to save a request part way through the process and then come back to it later. It is also not possible to upload documents during this part of the request process.

There will be a link to request a new request for assessment form on the local authority’s website. When you click the link, the following page will appear:

This page provides information about what an Education, Health and Care Plan is, who needs one and how to get one. Read the information and click on the Request an EHC Needs Assessment button at the bottom of the page and the following page will appear:

This will provide more information on the Education, Health and Care Plan. Read the information and click on Request an EHC Needs Assessment to begin the process of requesting an assessment.

This will open the request form:

Information sharing and data protection statement

Read the information and confirm consent.

Consent

When giving consent, if there are any individuals or organisations that you do not wish information concerning the assessment to be shared with, details as to who and why can be entered here. Click here for more information on using free text fields.

Consent - tick the box to give consent. You will be unable to send the request for an assessment unless consent is given.

There are five sections to be completed:

1. Details of person requesting an EHCP Assessment

2. Child or young person’s details

3. Child or young person’s main contacts (family and involved professionals)

4. Details of the child or young person’s current education setting(s)

5. Important information about the child or young person

6. Views of the child or young person and their parent, carer or guardian

Details of person requesting a EHCP Assessment

The dropdown is list of requester groups:

Please select the appropriate option from the list. Additional fields will populate for you to complete the details of the person making the request to be entered:

Name – Enter the name of the person making the request

Relationship to child or young person – Enter the nature of the relationship between the person requesting and the young person e.g. Speech and Language Therapist.

Email Address – Enter the contact email address of the person making the request. When the request has been completed and sent, a confirmation email will be sent to this email address to show that an assessment request has been sent.

Telephone Number – Enter the contact telephone number of the person making the request.

Organisation – Enter an organisation name if applicable.

Role or Title – Enter the job role or title if applicable.

Preferred spoken language – Click here for more information on using drop down menus

Preferred written language – Click here for more information on using drop down menus

Address – Click here for more information on using address fields

Preferred method of contact – select the requesters prefer contacted method

Is this the first request? - select Yes, No or Not known as applicable. If No is selected, enter the date a previous request was made, if known.

Child or young person’s details

First name – enter the first name of the child or young person the request for an assessment is for.

Last name – enter the last name of the child or young person the request for an assessment is for.

Middle name(s) – enter the middle name(s) of the child or young person the request for an assessment is for.

Preferred name – enter the preferred name of the child or young person the request for an assessment is for.

UPN – local authority only. This should be left blank.

Internal system reference – local authority only. This should be left blank.

Date of Birth – Type in the date of birth, with a dash between the day, month and year. Click here for more information on using date fields:

Once the date has been selected, the age will be calculated and displayed automatically:

Year Group Offset – if the child or young person is not in their age expected year group, use this field to apply a correction, e.g. a child or young person in the year group below their age expectation would require an offset of “-1”.

Click on the up or down arrow to change the year group offset.

Gender – Click here for more information on using drop down menus

NHS Number – Enter the NHS Number of the child or young person

Legal Status – Click here for more information on using drop down menus

Ethnicity – Click here for more information on using drop down menus

Preferred spoken language – Click here for more information on using drop down menus

Preferred written language – This will automatically default to the preferred spoken language but can be amended if not correct. Click here for more information on using drop down menus

Main telephone – enter the main telephone number for this child or young person.

Email address – enter the email address of the child or young person. This is NOT the email address any confirmation emails or requests for registration will be sent to and is just for information.

Address – Click here for more information on using address fields

Preferred method of contact – select if the young person would prefer to be contacted by email or post, if appropriate.

Child or young person’s main contacts (family and involved professionals)

This section is for details of any contacts for the child or young person the request for an assessment is being made for. If you are a main contact, then please fill in your details within this area. It is possible to add more than one contact to the assessment request. To add further contacts to the request, click on the ‘Add’ button in the bottom right-hand corner and complete the fields as above. This can be done as many times as required.

Full name – enter the name of the Full Name of the contact e.g. John Smith

Relationship or role – enter the relationship between or the role of the contact to the child or young person the request for an assessment is being made for. E.g. Father

Organisation (if applicable) – if this contact is part of an organisation (as opposed to a family member), enter the name of the organisation here

Preferred Language – Click here for more information on using drop down menus

Address – Enter the details of the contact for the child or young person. Click here for more information on using address fields.

Preferred method of contact – select the preferred method of contact for the child or young person’s contact.

To remove a contact, click on Remove in the top right-hand corner of the section:

Details of the child or young person’s current education setting(s)

It is possible to add an educational setting either based on the setting itself (e.g. the actual name of the education setting) or based on the type of setting (e.g. Mainstream school, Special school: Non-maintained etc). The details available to be completed will be based on if Setting or Type is selected.

Setting

If Setting is selected, the screen will look like this:

Search for a setting within the area – Click here for more information on using drop down menus:

If the setting is not on the list, click on Nothing selected and click on Yes to the next question, Is the setting out of area. The setting can then be added manually in the fields on the right:

Start Date – Type in the date the child or young person started at the educational setting. Click here for more information on using date fields

Leaving Date – if known, enter the date the child or young person left or will leave the education setting

You can also add additional information about the placement:

Reason for leaving – Enter a reason for leaving. Click here for more information on using free text fields

Percentage attendance of child or young person in the last year and any comments on this – Click here for more information on using free text fields

Additional Details - Click here for more information on using free text fields

Type

If type is selected, the screen will look like this:

Choosing setting type - Click here for more information on using drop down menus:

Left click on the required option to select it.

Additional details – click into the field to enter information. Click here for more information on using free text fields

Multiple education settings can be added. To add further education settings to the request, click on the Add button in the bottom right-hand corner and complete the fields as above. This can be done as many times as required.

To remove an education setting, click on Remove in the top right-hand corner of the section.

Important information about the child or young person

The section is used to enter historical information relevant to the request.

What historical information about the child or young person’s Special Educational Needs (SEN) is relevant to this request – Click here for more information on using free text fields:

What historical information about the child or young person’s health needs is relevant to this request – Click here for more information on using free text fields:

What historical information about the child or young person’s social care needs is relevant to this request – Click here for more information on using free text fields:

Views of the child or young person and their parent, carer or guardian

Was the child or young person involved in the discussion that led to this request – click on Yes or No

If Yes is selected, the following fields will be displayed, A Views and opinions of the child or young person:

What is working well for you in your current education setting? – Click here for more information on using free text fields.

What is not working well for you in your current education setting? What do you think might help – Click here for more information on using free text fields.

If No is selected, the following field will be displayed:

Please explain why – Click here for more information on using free text fields.

Has the parent(s) or carer(s) been involved in the discussions that led to this request – left click on Yes or No.

If Yes is selected, the following fields will be displayed, b Views and opinions of the parent(s) or carer(s):

What is working well for the child or young person in their current education setting? – Click here for more information on using free text fields:

What is not working well for the child or young person in their current education setting? What do you think might help? - Click here for more information on using free text fields:

If No is selected, the following field will be displayed:

Please explain why – – Click here for more information on using free text fields.

When all the required information has been entered, you will need to click ‘Send request’ at the bottom of the form:

There are certain fields that are required and that must be completed in order for the request to be sent. These are indicated with a red asterisk:

If information has not be entered into a required field, when the ‘Send Request’ button is clicked on, the section header containing the required information will turn red and the field to be completed will be shown with a message saying “This is required”:

Once all the information is entered correctly, click on ’Send Request’. The following message will be displayed:

Provided you have entered your email address in Section 1 of the request (Details of person requesting an EHCP Assessment), then you will be sent an email to confirm that your request has been submitted:

Once the request has been sent to the local authority, you may be given access again if they require your advice towards the assessment.

Collaborating on a draft request for a needs assessment

In some instances, you may be invited by the education setting to collaborate on a their draft request for a needs assessment before it is submitted to the local authority. You will receive a notification email that will look like this:

This case will be visible within your 'My cases in progress' tray and will look like this:

You will have a read only view of the draft requests content and you will be able to upload any relevant supporting documents.

When you click into the case you it will look like this:

A side bar will be visible, you will see some key details about the draft at the top and you can see who else has access to the draft request. If you expand each area, you will be able to read what has been entered, for example:

Section 1: Details of the person requesting an EHCP Assessment:

NOTE: The date of request will be blank as this is a draft request and hasn’t been submitted yet.

Section 8: Identified special educational needs (SEN):

Under section 9, you will be able to download, delete or upload relevant supporting documents:

Click here for more information on how to upload documents.

At the top of the draft request form, you can download a copy:

You will have temporary access to this draft request, as soon as the education setting submits the request you will lose access. You may be given access again if the local authority requires you to provide advice or information.

How to Register your Account

An account on the EHC Hub will be created for you by an administrator and they will contact you by email to register this account. To access the Hub, you will need a username and password. There is also a second level of security (known as two factor authentication) which will involve the entering of a six-digit code provided to you either by an authentication app, a text message or an email. Click here for information about two-factor authentication. The username will be your email address.

The email will look like this:

Click on the Complete your registration link in the email. The following page will appear:

Enter a password for your EHC Hub account in the Choose your password field. Your password must have:

• At least 8 characters

• At least one symbol (eg ?!£%)

• At least one capital letter

Enter the password again in the Confirm your password field. If the password entered does not match the criteria you will get a warning:

If the two passwords don’t match, you will get a warning message prompting you to type it again. You won’t be able to complete your registration unless the two passwords match:

Click on Complete your registration.

You will then be asked to enter your username and password.

If there is a problem with your account, this message will appear in the top right-hand corner of the screen:

In this case, check you are entering the correct username (your registered email address) and password (just created). If problems persist, please contact your local authority. Contact details are included at the bottom of EHC Hub notification emails.

Setting up two factor authentication

Once your username and password have been entered correctly, the following page will be displayed:

This is a second level of security to make sure only you can access the request details on the EHC Hub. This can be done with an authentication app on your smart phone, using SMS text messages or email, whichever you prefer.

There is an expandable section on this page if you need more information:

App Authentication

If you want to use an App authentication, click ‘Smartphone or tablet app’ then click ‘Continue’:

You will be given instructions on how to verify using the App authentication. This page will give you a ‘start again’ link. Which will allow you to go back to the previous screen and select another option:

You can either enter the key displayed on the above screen directly into your Authentication App or you can also click ‘Use a QR code instead’, this will change the screen to show a QR code:

This will require you to turn your camera on your phone and use it to scan the QR code on the screen. You will automatically be directed to your authentication app and it will provide you with a six-digit code.

Enter this code into the field and click ‘Continue’. You will be taken to your ‘My cases in progress’ work tray:

SMS Authentication

If you want to use SMS authentication, click on ‘Text message’ then click ‘Continue’:

The following page will appear, it will give you a ‘start again’ link. Which will allow you to go back to the previous screen and select another option:

Enter the mobile number the text message with the code should be sent to and click on ‘Send code’. You will then see the following page, with a field to enter the code that was sent to the mobile phone number entered:

If you do not receive the code or the code times out, you can use the ‘Resend log in code’ and it will send you a new code via text message.

When you enter the code and click ‘Log in’­­. You will be taken to your ‘My cases in progress’ work tray:

Email Authentication

If you want to use Email authentication, click on ‘Email’ then click ‘Continue’:

This will send a 6-digit verification code to the email address that is registered to your user account (this will be the same email address as your registration email was sent to).

If you do not receive the code or the code times out, you can use the ‘Resend log in code’ and it will send you a new code via email.

The email will look like this:

When you enter the code and click ‘Continue’­­. You will be taken to your ‘My cases in progress’ work tray:

Once you have set up your two-factor authentication, you have successfully completed your registration.

The next time you log in, you will need to enter your password and verification code. You will also be given the remember me option:

If you tick this box, for the next 7 days you will not need to enter your verification code.

Managing your profile

Once you have logged into the EHC Hub, you will be taken to ‘My cases in progress’. The page will look like this:

The bar at the top of the page, if you look to the right, you will see a person icon with your name beside it:

If you click your name, it will take you to your profile page:

This page allows you to keep your details up to date:

Name – this is the name visible when you are in the EHC Hub

Email address – this is the email address you log into the EHC Hub with and where your email notification go to

Job Title – you can add your job title where appropriate

Mobile – if you have SMS selected for two-factor authentication this will show the mobile number that is registered for it

Preferred method of contact – you can select your preferred method

Security – you can change your password here

Two Factor Authentication – this will show the current method that has been set up. Either App, SMS or Email.

Any changes you make to your profile can be saved, by clicking ‘Save’ at the bottom of the page:

Any changes will take effect immediately.

At the bottom of the page, you will see some more information about your account activity:

Resetting your two-factor authentication

You can also reset your two-factor authentication from within your profile – i.e. if you got a new phone and need to set your 2FA on your new device.

Click ‘Reset Two Factor Authentication’ and you will see the following pop up:

If you click ‘No’ the two-factor authentication will remain the same.

If you click ‘Yes’, your two-factor authentication will be reset. Meaning the next time you log in, you will be asked to set it up again.

My Cases in Progress work tray

When you log into the EHC Hub, you will see a list of any cases currently assigned to you that are in progress:

To view a case, click the Child/Young person’s name. The case file will be displayed:

Searching for a Case

There are to methods to search through cases, the search bar and the filters, at the top of the screen:

Using the search bar:

Start typing the name or the case ID into this field and the system will filter the list to display cases that match information. For example, if you start typing “ha” in here, any case name that contain ha will be displayed.

Using the filters:

The display can be filtered by Case Status, Education setting and Last updated since.

Case Status – click ‘All’ in the Case status field and a box will be displayed showing all the statuses available:

Click to select the required status

Education Setting – Click on All in the Education setting field to view the available education settings:

Click to select the required education setting

Last updated since – Type in the date required with a dash between the day, month and year. Alternatively, left click on the field and select the date from the calendar

There are also some checkboxes for you to use:

• Impending Deadline

• Overdue Deadline

• Mediation in progress

• Tribunal in progress

• Safeguarding

• Educated Other Than at School

• Looked After Child

• Not in Education, Employment or Training

• Closed outside of Process

• Include closed cases

To clear any filters, click ‘Clear’ all filters button at the top of the filters.

Viewing a Case

To view a case, click the Child/Young person’s name. The following page will appear:

Status of the Process

The top of the screen will show what stage of the process the EHC plan is currently at:

Underneath this, key details relevant to the stage of the process will be displayed:

Details of the Case

The left-hand side of the screen can be used to access different parts of the case record.

The top section shows the Child/Young person’s name, DOB, Year group, Case ID and status of the process as well as a photo if uploaded by a parent/carer/guardian or the case co-ordinator:

When you click the 3 dots in the top right and select ‘Edit details’, you will be given more information about the child record:

You will then see the following information:

• Child or young person’s details

• Child or young person’s main contacts (family and involved professionals)

• Current Education Setting

• Previous Education Setting

This is what the screen will look like:

Scroll down to the bottom of the screen and click ‘Cancel’ to go back to the case view.

Understanding the case side bar

Below the child details, there are other sections for Family, Case Co-ordinator, Education Setting, Notes & Timeline and Key Dates:

You can expand or collapse each section by clicking the section heading or the arrow at the end of each section header:

Family – This will show the details of any parent, carer, guardian, the young person or advocate who has access to the case

Case co-ordinator – This will show the case co-ordinator responsible for overseeing the process

Education Setting – This will show the details of the education setting which has access to the case

Notes – This is where you can view the case timeline. Click on View details to see this information:

Key Dates – this will display the key dates in the process, based on the statutory date requirements. For example, it could show the start date of the case, when the decision to assess needs to be made and when the case needs to be completed:

Assessment stage

Requests for Advice

If you have been requested to provide advice, you will receive an email to inform you of the request. The email will look similar to this:

When you log into the hub, the case will be displayed in your My cases work tray and can be found by using the case reference included in the notification email.

When you click on the case, the case will open to the “Assessment” stage and you will see some detailed information at the top of the page:

If you scroll down the page, you will see your advice requests that have been sent:

The advice template for you to complete has been set by the hub as a way of consistently gathering information from all professionals. You can also upload additional documents to support your advice.

The information submitted in the advice template will later pre-populate onto the draft EHC Plan should the local authority decide to issue one. They may however choose to edit all the advice received to produce a cohesive EHC Plan. Any changes made while drafting an EHC Plan will not change your original submission of advice at the assessment stage.

Editing your advice

To enter your advice, click ‘Edit’ beside your request. You will see the following page:

This page will also show any notes added to your request for advice by the local authority

You will need to specify if you are providing information on behalf of someone else or not; “Yes” or “No”.

If you are providing advice on behalf of someone else, you will need to enter their name and job title/role. If you are not providing advice on behalf of someone else, these details will be added for you from your user profile.

Indicate if information will be being provided, and the reason for this answer (Details). Click on the appropriate radio button:

If your response is part of a request for advice made to a team, this part may not appear to you or has already been completed by your manager. Below this, there are free text fields for you to provide background details.

The first section has 5 fields to complete:

• When did the child or young person first come into contact with your organisation? (This field is mandatory and must be completed before the advice can be submitted)

• Details of any discussion held between the child or young person and your organisation (if relevant)

• Details of any discussion held between the parent(s) or carer(s) and your organisation (if relevant)

• What has your organisation put in place already to support the child or young person’s needs? (This field is mandatory and must be completed before the advice can be submitted)

• What has been the effect of any support or strategies already put in place by your organisation? (This field is mandatory and must be completed before the advice can be submitted)

Below that, there are 6 more sections, one for each area of need:

Only complete sections which are relevant to your assessment of the child or young person’s Special Educational Needs – leaving any advice area empty indicates to the local authority that you have not identified it as an area of need.

There are certain fields that are mandatory. These fields will be indicated with a red asterix. You will not be able to submit your advice unless these fields have been completed.

Click the green arrow beside the area of need you would like to edit; each section has the same layout and structure.

Strengths and Needs

Outcomes, Steps and Provisions

Outcome - Enter the details of the outcome in the text field. If you want to add more outcomes, click ‘Add outcome’ at the bottom of the screen.

Preparing for adulthood type – Select the relevant type(s) from the pick list. Click here for more information on using drop down menus

Steps – to add a step, click ‘Add step’. Enter the step to achieving outcome and the date to be achieved by. If you want to add more steps, click ‘Add steps’.

Provision – Click ‘Add provision’ button. If you want to add more provisions, click ‘Add provision’.

There is no limit to the number of Outcomes, Steps or Provision that can be added.

Click ‘Save’ at the top of the page to save the information you have entered.

Click the X button when you are finished with the section, this will take you back to your advice request home page and you can select another area of need to edit:

Documents

At the bottom of your request for advice page, you will see a ‘Documents’ section. If you have any additional information to support the advice these can be uploaded here:

Click here for more information on how to upload documents.

Action buttons

At the top of page you will see the following buttons:

Back - This will return you to the assessment page (please make sure changes are saved before returning to the assessment page – a warning message will be displayed if there are unsaved changes):

Download – it is possible to download a copy of your response as a PDF document. When you click on download, the file can be saved to your device

Save – allows you to save any information you’ve entered

Submit advice – click this when you have entered all your advice and are ready for this to be made available to view

Submitting Advice

When you are ready to submit your advice, click ‘Submit advice’.

You will be asked to confirm you wish to submit the advice – once submitted, your response cannot be changed:

When you click Yes, you will be taken to the Assessment page.

If there is an error in your submission, and the case remains at the assessment stage, it is possible for the case co-ordinator to re-open your response. However, please note that the request completed date will reflect the date of re-submission (if it is different to the date on which you originally submitted your response).

Reading other professional advice

Once you have submitted your advice, you will be able to read all other professional advice that has been submitted. Click ‘Read’ beside advice you wish to view, you will also be able to download any submitted advice.

The Child or Young Person’s Views

You will also be able to view any information entered for the views of the Child or Young Person:

A green tick in the top right-hand corner of the section means information has previously been entered this section. To view that information, click ‘Open’ and it will be displayed:

The Parent, Carer or Guardian’s Views

You will be able to view any information entered for the views of the Parent, Carer or Guardian:

A green tick in the top right-hand corner of the section means information has been added or changed as part of this review. To view that information, click ‘Open’ and it will be displayed:

Decision to Issue Plan

A child or young person’s case would be available to you at this stage if you had provided advice at the assessment stage.

Once the case co-ordinator has indicated that the case is ready to progress to the decision, the status will update to reflect this in the display of the case in the My cases in progress:

Once the decision has been published, you will get an email asking you to log in to the hub to view the decision:

When you log into the hub, the status will be displayed. If the decision has been made to issue a EHC Plan, the status will look like this:

If the decision was made not to proceed to issue a plan, the case will not be displayed in your ‘My cases in progress’ work tray as this case will be classed as closed. To view the information, select tick ‘Include closed cases’ in the filters at the top of the page:

The case file will show a status of Decision made not to issue an EHC Plan:

For more information about the decision, click the Child/Young person’s name.

The reason for the decision will be displayed, and it will be possible to view a letter with details about the decision:

To view the letter, click ‘Download’ and a copy can be saved to your device.

You can view the information previously entered in the needs assessment process by clicking on Assessment in the icon bar at the top:

Viewing the Draft Plan

When the draft plan is being created, before it has been shared, the case status will look like this:

You will also see a message at ‘Plan’ stage advising that the plan is currently being drafted:

Once the draft plan has been created, it will be shared by the case co-ordinator, and you will receive an email to this effect:

The status of the case file will change to ‘Draft EHC Plan (shared)’.

If the draft plan is ready to be viewed, the screen underneath the information section will look like this, showing when the Draft was shared:

Each of the sections make up part of the Plan. To view more information on each section, click ‘Open’ on that section. Here is a summary of each plan section:

EHCP Section A – click ‘Open’ on this to display the information entered by the Parent/Carer and /or young person. This has three parts:

• About

• Parent/Carer’s Views

• Local authority background information

EHCP Sections B, E and F – click ‘Open’ on this to display information about Special Educational needs, Outcomes and Provisions.

EHCP Sections C, E and G – click ‘Open’ on this to display information about Health Needs, Outcomes and Provisions which relate to the special educational needs of the child or young person.

EHCP Sections D, E, H1 and H2 – click ‘Open’ on this to display information about Social Care Needs, Outcomes and Provisions which relate to the special educational needs of the child or young person.

EHCP Section I – click Open’ on this to display information about the Education Setting. This information may not be populated at this draft plan stage. The settings will be recorded in the Final EHC Plan.

EHCP Section J – click ‘Open’ on this to display any information about the personal budget.

EHCP Information and Advice – click ‘Open’ on this to display any information and advice provided by professionals during the assessment process. This has 2 parts

• Monitoring and review

• Progress towards outcomes specified in this plan will be monitored by

It also has a section on Advice Contributions. To view any advice contributions that have been made, click ‘View’:

You will then be able to view the information. When you have finished looking at this information, click ‘Close’:

Left click on Plan at the top of the screen to return to the draft plan:

Some sections may have multiple areas to view, for example Section B, E & F could have outcomes, provisions, etc.

When you click ‘Open’ for Section B, E & F, the following screen will show, and you will be able to expand the 4 SEN areas:

When you expand a SEN area, you will be able to view any information that has been entered.

Strengths, needs & outcomes:

There could be more than one outcome, you will need to scroll down to see if anymore outcomes have been added.

Steps to achieve outcomes:

Provisions:

There could be more than one provision added for each outcome, these will be listed one after the other:

If a section is not applicable (for example, the child or young person does not have extra Health Needs) it will look like this:

It is important to scroll up and down the screen to make sure you can see all the information that has been added to the plan. Left click on the scroll bar on the right-hand side of the screen to move up and down on the screen.

Click on the X to return to the main screen:

Downloading a Draft Plan

If you wish to download the draft plan as a PDF file. Click ‘Download Draft Plan’:

The downloaded plan file will appear on your screen:

Click ‘Open file’ to view the contents of the PDF file. This can be saved to your own device, if required.

EHC Plan Consultations

A child or young person’s case would be available to you at this stage if you had provided advice or information. At the bottom of the plan, there will be list of the Parent/Guardians/Carers or young people that have been consulted about this draft plan:

Young Person/Parents/Guardians/Carers

A list of all Parent/Guardians/Carers or young people who have been access to comment on the plan, it will display when the draft plan was shared with them and when they need to comment by.

It will also have the status of the comments process. If this says Open, then that person hasn't added comments. Once the comments have been entered, the status will change to show completed.

If a parent has left comments, you will see a speech bubble indicator on the top right of the plan section. You will then be able to view those comments by clicking ‘Open’ on the relevant plan section:

The comments will be visible and will display when the comments were added and by which parent:

NOTE: These comments will be visible to all users who have access to the case, except for parent users. Parent users will only have access to view their own comments. They will be able to see in EHC Plan Consultations that others have completed their comments but they won't be able to view these.

Education Settings

If an education setting has consulted on the plan, you will see the name of the setting, when the plan was shared, when they need to respond by and when they submitted their consultation:

In order to view their response, click Open.

You can also download the letter that was sent to the Education Setting for consultation by clicking Download.

Finalised and Issued EHCP

A child or young person’s case would be available to you at this stage if you had provided advice at the assessment stage and the EHC Plan was issued in the last 60 days.

Once the case co-ordinator has finalised the EHCP, it will be issued. An email will be sent to inform you of this, it will look something like this:

When you log into the hub, the case file will no longer be displayed in the My cases in progress tray, as the plan has been issued. The case will now be displayed in the My live cases tray.

You will retain access to this case for a set period of time after the Plan has been issued, then you will lose access to the case, and it will no longer be visible to you in your list of cases. The default for this is 60 days after the plan has been issued.

The status of the file will show as Review pending, as that is the next stage the process that the hub will manage:

When you click on the file, the EHC Case Summary will be displayed:

Case Summary

This includes sections of information for the history of activity on the EHC Hub.

Education, Health and Care Plan

This will display when the current plan was finalised. You can also download a copy of the plan if required by clicking on the Download EHC Plan button. The download will appear in the bottom left-hand corner of the screen:

Review not yet started

This will tell you when the plan needs to be reviewed by, the recommended time to start the process by and details of the next phase transfer if applicable.

Review in progress

If a review is currently mid process, this section will show as ‘Review in progress’ with an option to ‘Open review’ which will take you to the current stage for the review.

This will tell you when the plan needs to be reviewed by, the recommended time to start the process by and details of the next phase transfer if applicable.

Completed Reviews

This section will only be displayed if previous reviews have been completed and if it was a phase transfer review:

Amendments to plan outside of a formal review pathway

This section will only be displayed if any amendments have been made to the existing plan outside of the formal review pathway:

EHC Assessment and Planning Pathway

This will tell when the assessment and planning pathway was completed. To view the pathway, click on ‘View pathway’.

This will take you to the pathway page where you can view the information entered previously on the pathway to the Plan:

Click on any of the status buttons at the top of the screen to view the information.

EHC Plan Review

Invited to a review

If you are invited to an EHC Plan Review, you will receive an email notification that will look similar to this:

When you log in a view the case it will be at the view stage and you will see the this page:

Arrange Stage

One this page, you can view the details of the review meeting, a list of the attendees of that meeting, it will show if they have said if they will attend or not.

Click on Arrange:

The Arrange page will be displayed. The top of the page will display the date, time and location of the meeting:

The bottom of the page will display who has been invited to attend the meeting and if they have indicated if they will attend:

You can also indicate if you intend to attend the meeting, you will see the below buttons:

Click ‘Download’ to view a copy of the review meeting invitation letter.

Views stage

Request for information

If you have been asked to provide information, you will receive an email notification:

When you view the case you will see a page like this:

Editing your request

The template for you to complete has been set by the hub as a way of consistency in gathering information from all professionals.

The information submitted can be used for discussion at the review meeting and may later be included in the education setting’s report of recommendations to the local authority. The setting may choose to include all, some or none of the information received to produce their report.

To respond to a request for information, click ‘Edit’ beside your request:

The request for information page will be displayed and you will see action buttons:

Back - This will return you to the Views stage. If you have unsaved changes it will ask if you are sure.

Download – it is possible to download a copy of your response as a PDF document. When you click on download, the file can be saved to your device

Save – allows you to save any information you’ve entered

Submit – click this when you have entered all your advice and are ready for this to be made available to view

You will need to complete information about your response:

Are you providing a response on behalf of someone else – click on the Yes or No button as appropriate

Name of the person providing the advice – enter the name of the person providing the advice. If the local authority later decides to issue an EHC plan, this will be the name attributed to this advice response in Section K

Job title or role of the person providing advice – enter the job title of role of the person providing advice

Will you provide information and advice for this child/young person – click Yes or No. If you answer No to this question, it is mandatory that you enter details as to why. If your response is part of a request for information made to a team, this part may not appear to you or have already been completed.

Below that, there are 6 more sections:

• SEN - Communication and Interaction

• SEN - Cognition and Learning

• SEN - Sensory and/or Physical needs

• SEN - Social, Emotional and Mental Health

• Health

• Social Care

If a section has information in the current EHC Plan, it will have a green tick next to it. If a section has information and outcomes, it will have a green tick next to it and it will show how many outcomes there are.

To review the information in each section, click on the green arrow on the right. The information previously entered as part of the plan will be displayed.

NOTE: Each section has the same questions which you can answer and commented on where appropriate

Is there any change to the strengths and/or needs

If you click Yes, a free text field will appear for you to enter details of the change:

Click here for more information on using free text fields.

Outcome(s) - You can comment on Current Progress towards this outcome. To do this, click on the down pointing arrow at the end of the field:

Click here for more information on using drop down menus

Steps to achieving this outcome:

What has been working well: This is a free text field. Click here for more information on using free text fields:

Are there any changes needed to this outcome – Click Yes or No. If you select Yes, a free text field will be displayed to enter information about this. Click here for more information on using free text fields

Are there additional short-term targets needed to support the child or young person to achieve this outcome –Click Yes or No. If you select Yes, click on Add a new step to enter information about the new step

Are there any changes needed to the SEN provision to support the child or young person to meet this outcome – click Yes or No. If you select Yes, click on ‘Add provision’ to enter information about the new provision or recommended changes to existing provision.

Documents

At the bottom of your request for information, you will see a ‘Documents’ section. If you have any addition information it can be uploaded here:

Click here for more information on how to upload documents

Action buttons

At the top of page you will see the following buttons:

Back - This will return you to the assessment page (please make sure changes are saved before returning to the assessment page – a warning message will be displayed if there are unsaved changes)

Download – it is possible to download a copy of your response as a PDF document. When you click on download, the file can be saved to your device

Save – allows you to save any information you’ve entered

Submit advice – click this when you have entered all your advice and are ready for this to be made available to view

Submitting your request

When you are ready to submit your information, click ‘Submit’. You will be asked if you are sure (once you submit you cannot edit the response):

When you click Yes and you will be taken to the 'Views' stage.

Please contact the case co-ordinator is you have questions about your advice. Click here to see the case co-ordinators information.

Reading other professionals submitted requests

Once you have submitted your information, you will be able to read all other professional requests that has been submitted. Click ‘Read’ beside the request you wish to view, you will also be able to download these if needed.

The Child or Young Person’s Views

You will also be able to view any information entered for the views of the Child or Young Person. As this is a review, the Child/Young Person can comment on whether they feel they are making progress or not. This information will be available for you to view:

If there are green ticks on any section, this means there is information that you can view. To view that information:

Click ‘Open’ and the information will be visible:

The Parent, Carer or Guardian’s Views

You will be able to view any information entered for the views of the Parent, Carer or Guardian. As this is a review, the Parent, Carer or Guardian can comment on whether they feel they are making progress or not. This information will be available for you to view:

If there are green ticks on any section, this means there is information that you can view. To view that information:

Click ‘Open’ and the information will be visible:

Team manager access

Allocation of team requests

The term “manager” in the context of the EHC Hub means a person with access to the hub under the contributor role, and is linked to a team in the hub and has been granted the permission level of ‘manager’ for that team.

The ‘manager’ level of permission allows requests made to a team to be allocated to one or more members of the team and to see all child and young person’s cases linked to the team via a “Team cases” work tray.

When a request for advice or information is sent to a team, the email notification will go to the team’s contact email address. A team manager will be able to allocate the request to the appropriate individual team member(s), the email will look like this:

It is recommended that the team’s contact email address is set in the EHC Hub as one where its inbox can be accessed by at least one person in the team designated as a ‘manager’.

Linking people to teams, designating team managers and setting up a team’s contact email address is under the control of an administrator in the local authority.

If you are a manager within one or more teams, an extra icon will be displayed for the Team cases work tray:

The Team cases work tray can be searched and filtered in the same way as the My cases in progress work tray. Click here for more information on searching and filtering.

Two useful ways to find cases in this work tray is to filter cases using the specific case reference detailed in the notification email, or to utilise the filter “Awaiting allocation”:

Clicking on the Child/Young Persons name will open the details to the current stage where you can see the list of requests for advice (Assessment) or requests for information (Review).

To the right of your team’s name, click the link “Assign to a professional”. This is where you are asked to specify if your organisation or team will be providing a response for this child or young person:

You will then be asked if you will provide information and advice for this child/young person:

If your team is unable to provide advice or information, indicate so in this space and giving a reason were asked to do so.

If you select a ‘Yes’ response, you will be able to allocate the request to one or more team members, as needed.

Click the down pointing arrow at the end of to select which team member and then click ‘Add’:

The team member that has been added will then be displayed in the list below:

If you are unable to locate the team member in the dropdown list, you will have an option to ‘Add new Team Member’ at the bottom of the dropdown list:

If you select ‘Add new Team Member’ and click ‘Add’ you will then see this page, asking you to complete some fields:

Once you have completed these sections and click ‘Add’, the user will appear in the list, they will also be created in the EHC Hub and will be visible for your Team allocations in the future. This new team member will also be sent an email to register their account so they can log into the EHC Hub.

Within the section, you can also close requests & re-open requests.

Closing a request

To close a request, click the ‘Close’ button beside the member of your team:

This will change their status from ‘Pending’ to ‘Closed’:

Re-opening a request

You can re-open any closed or completed requests. To re-open a request, click the ‘Re-open’ button beside the member of your team:

This will change the status from ‘Closed’ to ‘Pending’ or ‘Completed’ to ‘Pending’:

NOTE: If you re-open a completed request the information previously submitted will still be there.

When you add a team member, they will receive an email notification like this:

The file will still be displayed in the Team cases work tray, but the allocation warning will no longer be displayed.

The case will also appear in the My cases in progress work tray for that user.

As a Team Manager you will have the ability to view any advice/information requests for your team, click ‘Read’ and you will have a read only view of their advice/information response.

The team’s response will be marked as completed once all team member’s allocated response has been submitted.

How to upload documents

Below are instructions on how to upload documents:

There are only certain file types that can be uploaded:

Documents - .xls, .xlsx, .doc, .docx, .odt, .pdf, .ppt, .pptx, .zip and .csv

Images - .gif, .jpeg, .jpg, .png and .webp

Videos - .avi, .mov, .mp5 and .wmv

You can find this list by hovering over the ‘i’ icon at the bottom of the box:

If you try to upload a file type that is not on this list, you will see this message in the top right corner:

If you want to add any documents, click ‘Add Files’:

You will then need to navigate to the file wherever it is saved on your PC:

Click ‘Open’ and the file will be uploaded. The uploaded file will be displayed:

Help Using Forms

Pick List Fields

Click on the down pointing arrow at the end of the field to view the available options for selection. There is a scroll bar on the right to allow you to scroll down to view more options in the list. Scroll down until you can see the option you require and then left click to select it. Alternatively, if you know the option you require, you can begin to type it in the field and the list will show options that match what you type:

Text Formatting

Left click anywhere in the box and start typing any information you want to enter here. If required, there are various formatting options for that can be accessed by clicking on the buttons at the top of the field. To see what each button does, hover over the button with the mouse pointer and a tool tip will be displayed to show what that button does

Entering an Address

Enter the postcode of your address in the postcode search field and click on Search:

Another field will be displayed:

Click on the down pointing arrow to view with all addresses that match that postcode:

Left click on the correct address to select it. The address will then be displayed on screen:

If the address is incorrect or needs to be removed, click on Clear address and a new location will be available to be selected.

If the correct address is not available to be selected from the list, click on the My address is not listed option, and the fields will be made available to be completed manually:

Date Fields

Type in the date required with a dash between the day, month and year. Alternatively, left click on the field and select the date from the calendar. Navigate around the calendar using the arrows in the top right and left corners until the correct date is available. Left click on the date to select it.

Contact us

Users of the EHC Hub should contact their local authority for further assistance.

Idox Software Ltd

Unit 5, Woking 8

Forsyth Road

Woking

Surrey

GU21 5SB

www.idoxgroup.com