Listen to this story Members can listen to an AI-generated audio version of this article. 1.0x Audio narration uses an AI-generated voice. 0:00 0:00 Become a member to listen to this article Subscribe More than a quarter of requests for an education, health and care plan were rejected by councils last year, new data reveals. The government鈥檚 also reveals how councils were more likely to proceed with needs assessments when the request was made by a school. In 2025, councils decided not to proceed with 43,289 of 162,702 requests for a EHCP needs assessment. This is 26.6 per cent of requests and above the 25.2 per cent of rejects in 2024. The rate has been rising in recent years, from 22.1 per cent in 2022 and 24 per cent in 2023. For the first time, councils had to provide information on who was requesting plans. The data reveals that 55.8 per cent were from schools or another education setting, with 29.3 per cent from parents or a young person. Just 0.5 per cent were from a social care professional and 0.2 per cent were from health care. A further 4.6 per cent were from 鈥渙ther鈥�, and the source was not known in 9.5 per cent of requests. For schools, 75.8 per cent went ahead to a needs assessment compared with just 44 per cent of parent or young person requests. Record EHCPs There were 718,800 children and young people with an EHCP in January this year, an increase of 12.5 per cent. This is the largest year-on-year rise since the introduction of EHCPs in 2014. There were 118,800 needs assessments carried out last year, a 12.8 per cent rise. Of these, it was decided to issue a plan in 111,200 鈥� or 93.6 per cent of 鈥� cases. If a council decides not to issue an EHCP, the council has 16 weeks to notify the parent or young person. But just 37.4 per cent of these decisions were issued within that timeframe. It was 34.1 per cent in 2024. If a plan is issued, the whole process must take no more than 20 weeks. This year, 46.1 per cent were issued within this timeframe, down from 46.4 per cent last year. This is the lowest proportion on record. Separate data published this month on EHCPs for school-aged pupils showed that more than 500,000 pupils now had plans. Under a reformed SEND system, EHCPs will only be for children with 鈥渃omplex needs鈥�, with the government introducing new individual support plans for other youngsters with SEND. A consultation on the plans closed last month.