HOW TO… ACHIEVE THE GOLDEN THREAD IN AN EHCP

What makes a good EHC plan?

One of the key ways to ensure that education, health and care (EHC) plans meet statutory requirements and work as functional documents is to achieve the ‘Golden Thread’ throughout the plan.

In this post we’ll explain what we mean by the Golden Thread and why this is important in EHC plans, and provide a handy checklist for those involved in the EHCP assessment or writing process to ensure they are meeting this requirement.

What is the Golden Thread, and why does it matter?

EHC plans should clearly connect the aspirations of the child/young person and their family with the needs identified by assessing professionals, the agreed outcomes and the recommended education, health or social care provision.

This connection between aspirations, needs, outcomes and provision in an EHCP is called the Golden Thread.

The below diagram displays this relationship – between aspirations in Section A, needs in Sections B, C and D, outcomes in Section E and provision in Sections F, G and H – as a two-way continuum:

The following example demonstrates the importance of these links:

Assessing professionals identified that Jane has NEEDS in relation to her difficulties communicating her basic wants and needs due to delayed speech and language skills. Jane’s mum also expresses that one of her ASPIRATIONS is for Jane to be able to communicate her needs and wishes in some way. Therefore, an agreed OUTCOME to meet this need, and to help Jane to achieve her family’s aspiration for her, could be for Jane to be able to use pictures, signs and single words to communicate what she wants, by the end of Key Stage 1. Assessing professionals could then recommend PROVISION in the form of a speech and language therapy programme designed and reviewed annually by a speech and language therapist, to be delivered to Jane by school staff for 2 hours per week, in order to address this need and meet this outcome.

How to check that your EHC plan has a Golden Thread

The following checklist can be used to ensure that the Golden Thread is present in an EHC plan – you will find that some of these criteria require you to make reverse connections (i.e. work backwards from later sections to ensure full matching up between sections):

Next steps

Would you like to learn more about what makes a good EHC plan? For more guidance, strategies and good practice around plan writing, explore our online, CPD accredited EHCP writing courses here.