Provision vs Placement: Why Parents Must Get This Right (and How to Evidence It)

By SEN Parent Support Group

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Why “Provision Before Placement” Matters

If you’re navigating the EHCP process, you’ve probably heard the phrase “provision before placement” but most parents aren’t told what it actually means. Even professionals get this wrong, and that confusion leads to delays, refusals, and unnecessary battles.

This blog breaks it down simply, shows you how to evidence need, and links you to the SEN Parent Support Group resources that make this process easier.

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When you request a specific school, the Local Authority often responds with:

• “We don’t fund that.”
• “Your child doesn’t need that level of support.”
• “We can meet need in mainstream.”

But here’s the legal truth:

Placement cannot be decided until the provision is fully specified and quantified.

In other words:

• First you identify what your child needs.
• Then you identify where those needs can be met.

Not the other way around.

This protects children from being forced into placements that can’t meet need and protects parents from being pressured into accepting what’s “available” instead of what’s appropriate.

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What Counts as Provision?

Provision is everything your child needs to access education, make progress, and stay emotionally and physically safe.

This includes:

• Therapies (OT, SALT, mental health support)
• Specialist teaching
• 1:1 or small‑group support
• Sensory regulation
• Adaptations to curriculum, environment, and teaching
• Assistive technology
• Structured programmes (e.g., Zones of Regulation, literacy interventions)
• Staff training
• Specialist input from external professionals

Provision must be:

• Specific
• Quantified
• Detailed
• Delivered by the right professional

“Access to” or “regular” or “as required” is not lawful.

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What Counts as Placement?

Placement is simply:

Where the provision will be delivered.

This could be:

• Mainstream school
• Mainstream with specialist resourced provision
• Special school
• Independent special school
• EOTAS package
• Hybrid or bespoke arrangements

Placement is the container. Provision is the content.

You cannot choose the container until you know what the content is.

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How to Evidence the Provision Your Child Needs

Parents often worry they don’t have “enough evidence”. But evidence comes from many places not just professionals.

Useful evidence includes:

• *School reports showing unmet need
• *Behaviour logs
• Exclusions (formal or informal)
• CAMHS letters
• Paediatrician reports
• OT/SALT assessments
• Sensory profiles
• Your own parent views
• Daily lived‑experience logs
• Emails showing lack of progress or distress
• *Attendance records
• Screenshots of communication with school
• Tribunal decisions (if relevant)

The key is to show:

• What the need is
• How it impacts learning, safety, or wellbeing
• What provision is required to meet it

You don’t need a diagnosis to evidence need you need impact. At this stage it is recommended that a SAR is submitted to School to gain evidence of the above *appropriate areas: SAR Letter

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How This Links to Your EHCP Draft

When drafting or reviewing an EHCP:

Section B = Needs

Section F = Provision

Section I = Placement

The order is intentional.

If Section B is vague → Section F will be vague → Section I will be wrong.

This is why we created the SPSG EHCP Draft Checklist — to help parents ensure every need is captured, evidenced, and linked to provision.

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How This Plays Out at Tribunal

Tribunal panels follow the same logic:

1. What are the child’s needs?

2. What provision is required to meet those needs?

3. Which placement can deliver that provision?

If the LA argues for mainstream but cannot show how mainstream will deliver the provision in Section F, the Tribunal will not accept it.

Your job is to:

• Evidence need clearly
• Link need to provision
• Show why the LA’s proposed placement cannot meet that provision

Our “How to Evidence Need for EHCP & Tribunal” resource walks parents through this step by step.

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SEN Parent Support Group Resources to Support You

You can link these directly in your blog:

📘 EHCP Draft Checklist

A parent‑friendly tool to ensure every need is captured and linked to provision.

📂 How to Evidence Need for EHCP & Tribunal

A practical guide showing what evidence counts, how to organise it, and how to present it.

🛄 How Break Down Needs

A blog covering the SEND Need Descriptors linked to the four core areas of need.

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Your Child’s Needs Drive The Provision.

Parents are often made to feel like they’re “asking for too much” when they request specialist provision or a different placement. But the law is clear:

The provision drives the placement. Not the LA. Not the school. Not the budget.

When you understand this sequence and evidence it properly, everything becomes clearer, calmer, and more winnable.

Other blogs and resources linked:

No CYP Should Be Without Education – When A LA Has Named A Unsuitable School In The EHCP. – SEN Parent Support Group

GUIDANCE: Preparing for Mediation – SEN Parent Support Group

TRAINING: CPD Training on SENDIST TRIBUNALS. – SEN Parent Support Group