How should SENDCos manage EHCP requests over the summer holidays?

Summer is one of the hardest times to manage EHCP communication well. Families still have questions, deadlines do not stop, and school staff are often unavailable, so the challenge is to stay responsive without creating expectations that cannot be met.

When school closes, EHCP requests do not disappear. Parents may want copies of reports, clarification about what has been sent to the local authority, updates on annual review actions, or reassurance that something has been received and logged. For SENDCos, the key is not to try to do everything immediately. It is to stay clear, calm, and consistent.

Why this matters

Summer can create avoidable frustration very quickly. A parent sends a reasonable email, receives no reply for three weeks, and by the time September arrives the relationship already feels strained. In most cases, that tension starts because no one explained how communication would work once school closed.

The problem is rarely the request itself. It is the silence around the request. Families are often anxious because EHCP processes are time-sensitive, emotionally loaded, and difficult to navigate even in term time. If a school is closed, that does not mean the family stops needing clarity.

Who responds

It is also worth being clear about who is actually responsible for responding over the holidays. If the SENDCo is part of the leadership team and their role includes holiday cover or planned email monitoring, then EHCP requests can be picked up during school closure. If the SENDCo is employed under teachers’ pay and conditions, it should not be assumed that they are working through the holiday period, and that boundary should be respected. Furthermore, if they are leadership, it is likely that they would still need to liaise with the child’s class teacher to provide the clearest picture of the child’s needs, in which case, rushing this step to meet deadlines, may prove counterproductive.

The important thing is that families know what to expect, rather than waiting in silence. A brief holiday message, an autoresponder, or a named contact for urgent matters can prevent a lot of frustration. It also helps staff avoid being placed in an impossible position later.

What the law says

The SEND Regulations 2014 do relax some of the statutory deadlines when a school is closed. It is worth being clear at the outset whose deadlines they relax, because it is easy to assume the answer. The exemption belongs to the local authority. It gives the authority longer to reach its own decisions where it has asked a closed school for advice. It does not give a school longer to respond to a request.

The Code of Practice covers this at paragraph 9.42. It sets out the general position first, and then summarises the exemption that applies to a closed school.

The Code compresses the regulation, and the compression is where the meaning goes. Here is the regulation itself. The local authority need not comply with the time limit if it is impractical to do so because:

Read that again for the timing, because it is a window rather than a state. What has to fall inside the window is the authority's request for advice. The window opens one week before the school closes and shuts one week before it reopens. A request that arrives in the final week of the holidays falls outside it, and so does one sent well before term ends. The school simply being closed is not, on its own, the exemption.

The same wording carries the other deadlines. Regulation 5(4)(a) applies it to the six week decision on whether to carry out an assessment, and regulation 13(3) applies the same reasons to the twenty week deadline for the final plan.

Now the part in brackets in the Code's wording, which is the important bit for a school. The closure exemption does not touch the duty on partners to respond to a request within six weeks. A school that receives a request during the holidays still has that duty running. What closure may affect is what the school can practically supply and when, not whether the duty applies at all.

None of this makes delay ideal, and an exemption is not a reason to leave a parent without a reply. It does mean the system recognises that closure affects what a school can practically provide. But a SENDCo explaining a delay should describe what is practically possible and when it will be picked up. Citing the exemption is not the answer, because it is not the school's to rely on.

What SENDCos can do before school closes

The best time to manage summer requests is before the end of term, or if you’ve missed that, as soon as possible now. A simple message to families can prevent a lot of confusion later. Explain who will be checking emails, what kind of responses are possible, and when the school will be fully back in operation.

It also helps to make sure anything likely to be needed over the holidays is already saved, indexed, and easy to find. That might include annual review paperwork, consultation responses, recent provision updates, or parent correspondence. If the information exists but no one can locate it, the family experiences that as delay.

Sorting requests sensibly

Not every request needs the same response. A useful way to handle them is to sort them into three groups.

• Urgent: something with a deadline, a safeguarding concern, or a time-sensitive EHCP action.
• Important: a request for information that needs SENDCo input but can wait a few days.
• Follow-up: a query that is best held for September because the right people are away or the paperwork is not immediately accessible.

That approach protects time and helps schools respond proportionately. It also makes the reply more transparent, which is often what families need most.

What to say in your reply

If a response is sent during the holidays, keep it short, factual, and reassuring without overpromising. The aim is to acknowledge the request, say what can be done now, and set out what will happen next.

Sample email response

That message does three important things. It acknowledges the parent, avoids unnecessary delay, and makes it clear that the request has not been forgotten.

When to involve others

Some requests can be handled by the SENDCo alone, but not all of them should be. If the query relates to a deadline, a legal process, or information that sits with the local authority rather than the school, it may need to be escalated or logged for immediate attention in September. If a member of the office team is fielding emails, they should also know exactly what to pass on and what not to try to answer themselves.

It is also worth remembering that parents do not always know which part of the process they are asking about. A quick, polite clarification can save time later. Sometimes a family asks for “EHCP information” when what they actually need is an annual review date, a copy of evidence, or confirmation that the school has received consultation paperwork.

A simple summer framework

A helpful way to work over the holidays is:

1. Acknowledge the email if possible.
2. Check whether the request is urgent or deadline-driven.
3. Decide whether it can be answered now or whether it needs September follow-up.
4. Log what has been asked so nothing is lost.
5. Keep the reply brief, clear, and consistent.

That is often enough. A long explanation is not needed, and everything does not need to be solved in one message.

Closing thought

The most effective summer communication is not the fastest reply. It is the reply that is clear, honest, and reliable. If families know what to expect, they are far less likely to chase, worry, or escalate unnecessarily. And when school reopens, the new term begins from a calmer place.

One thing waiting for you in the autumn term: every school has to publish an inclusion strategy by 31 December 2026.