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Dear Prime Minister,

EASY READ LETTER AVAILABLE HERE

I have read the reports that you are planning to end Education, Health and Care (EHC) plans and I am writing to urge you to think again. A few years ago, I was really struggling in a mainstream secondary school in South London. My life changed when, two years ago, I received my EHC plan.

My name is Hannah, I am 19, and I am a wheelchair user with several chronic conditions, including epilepsy. I really struggled physically with the school environment – having to do things like ask my friends to push me around a hilly school to get to classrooms.

I am also autistic. My autism was undiagnosed for a long time, and I found school incredibly overwhelming. From year 7 onwards, I regularly had to ask for ‘time out passes’ to leave class. But these were only able to be used for short bursts and became less suitable as the years went on, which eventually led to me being taught in a spare room, away from other pupils.

I just felt like my school didn’t know what to do with me and was reluctant to make any adjustments. At times, particularly after the Covid lockdowns, I felt like I just couldn’t go in anymore. I missed a lot of school and I felt tired. The thought of going back was exhausting and very anxiety inducing. I felt like I was in a constant cycle of failure and everything that I did was wrong.

Finally, when I was 16, my school started the EHC plan process. By this point I was at home because my school had deemed me attending a health risk and a safeguarding issue. My initial application was rejected, but I was given my EHC plan on appeal.

It is no exaggeration to say this plan completely transformed my experience of school. Firstly, I was actually able to attend in person again, on a reduced timetable. I received 1:1 support, including help with social skills, pastoral check-ins, a quiet place to go when I felt overwhelmed, and a teaching assistant to support my learning.

Through my plan I also received transport that meant I could get to and from school safely. And at school, I had someone to help push my wheelchair, and my classrooms were moved to the ground floor – meaning I no longer had to rely on other pupils to get to class. These things were life-changing.

Thanks to my EHC plan, I’m now looking to the future and planning to start a Level 3 Acting and Performance qualification at college in September.

Without it I would not be working towards any qualifications and to be quite honest I’d be depressed because I wouldn’t have access to support that would help me stay in school. I would have blamed myself for not being able to keep up. I would be feeling quite stuck and aimless. And even though I still find school overwhelming and sometimes difficult to navigate, I'm now being supported to plan for a future that I’m actually excited by.

I know I’m far from being alone in this kind of experience. There are children and young people like me all around the country. An EHC plan was how they could finally unlock the support they needed to live their lives.

I’d like to invite you to meet with me, and a group of other disabled young people, to talk about the difference an EHC plan has made to us.

But really, I’m writing to you on behalf of everyone who has ever needed an EHC plan We’re not asking for anything ‘special’. We just want the ordinary things all children want – to be able to go to school, to be able to attend lessons and learn, to have fun and to be able feel excited for our futures.

Please, Prime Minister, don’t take this away from us.

Hannah Steadman

Sign our open letter to the Prime Minister!

Hannah's open letter to the Prime Minister

EASY READ LETTER AVAILABLE HERE