What Happens After the EHCP Panel Makes Its Decision? The Hidden ‘Ratification’ Step Parents Rarely See.

Many parents understand that there is a process once a local authority agrees to carry out an Education, Health and Care Needs Assessment. What is less well understood is how the final decision about issuing an EHCP is actually reached, and what happens afterwards.

In simple terms, the process usually looks like this:

1. The local authority agrees to assess a child.

2. Advice and reports are gathered from relevant professionals, which may include educational psychology, speech and language therapy, health professionals and school evidence.

3. A panel meeting takes place.

The evidence folder is reviewed and discussed by a multi-disciplinary team. The professionals present offer their expertise and views on whether the legal threshold for an EHCP has been met.

4. The local authority officer chairing the meeting records the decision.

The MDT does not formally make the decision itself. Instead, it provides advice and recommendations. The officer chairing the panel records the decision on behalf of the local authority, informed by the evidence and the professional discussion.

At this point, one might reasonably assume the process is complete and that the outcome would be communicated to parents.

But this is where something interesting happens.

5. The decision then enters what Surrey County Council describes as a “ratification” stage.

Parents are not told the decision immediately. Instead, it must first be reviewed by a senior officer before the outcome can be released.

This raises a fairly straightforward question.

If the panel discussion has taken place, the evidence has been considered, and the local authority officer chairing the meeting has already recorded the decision, what exactly is being ratified afterwards?

Is the senior officer simply confirming that the correct process was followed?

Or are they reviewing the decision itself?

And if they are reviewing the decision, does that mean the outcome recorded at the panel can be changed?

Local authorities are under considerable financial and operational pressure when it comes to EHCPs, so it is understandable that councils want to ensure decisions are robust and consistent.

But when an additional approval stage appears after the decision has already been recorded, it raises understandable questions about transparency.

If this step is purely administrative, it would help parents to understand that clearly.

If it is something more substantive, then it would be helpful to know what criteria are being applied and why that review sits outside the panel process itself.

For families navigating the SEND system, clarity matters.

Because when a decision appears to have already been made but cannot yet be shared, it can feel as though the process has simply stalled.

And that is where transparency becomes essential.