Idox strengthens EHC Hub with time-saving enhancements as SEND reforms seem set to reshape delivery

Idox, a leading innovator in digital solutions for the public sector, has announced the latest enhancement release to its flagship EHC Hub platform – reinforcing its position as an essential SEND case management system for local authorities and education settings.

Designed to transform how families, schools, and local authorities navigate SEND case management and the Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) process, EHC Hub continues to evolve in response to growing system pressures. This latest release delivers practical, user-led enhancements that save valuable time, streamline workflows, and support collaboration across services.

At a time when demand for SEND support continues to rise, local authorities face increasing complexity in meeting statutory timelines while maintaining high-quality engagement with families, schools, and partner agencies. EHC Hub is purpose-built to meet this challenge – providing a connected, digital approach that reduces administrative burden and improves outcomes.

The government’s proposed SEND reforms, outlined in its Schools White Paper and subsequent policy direction, point towards a more tiered system with earlier identification and support for additional needs. They also point to responsibilities shifting towards education settings to deliver early SEN support, so the need for seamless collaboration between local authorities, schools and wider partners becomes even more critical.

EHC Hub is uniquely positioned to support this evolving landscape – not only enabling local authorities to manage statutory processes efficiently, but also empowering schools and education settings to play a more active role in SEN support. By bringing all stakeholders together in one platform, EHC Hub fosters transparency, improves communication, and ensures that children and young people receive the right support at the right time.

Importantly, all enhancements within EHC Hub are driven directly by feedback from Idox’s local authority customers. These authorities, in turn, actively gather input from their own stakeholders – including schools, colleges, parents, and carers – ensuring that improvements reflect real-world user needs across the entire SEND ecosystem.

Alana Smith, Product Manager for EHC Hub at Idox, said:

“Everything we build into EHC Hub is shaped by the lived experience of our local authority users. We work closely with SEND teams to understand the pressures they face day-to-day, and we continuously incorporate their feedback – alongside insights from schools, colleges, parents and carers to ensure the platform delivers meaningful, practical improvements. These latest enhancements are a direct response to that collaboration, helping professionals save time, reduce friction and focus on supporting children and young people.”

New enhancements include: 

1. Team-to-team allocations

Requests sent to specialist teams – such as health, educational psychology, or social care – can now be more effectively managed. Team managers can allocate cases to individual team members or reassign them across teams, addressing user feedback that requests were occasionally routed incorrectly and improving overall efficiency.

2. Next action due date

Professionals across local authorities, health, and education can now view and sort assigned actions by due date through a new column. This enhancement supports better prioritisation and helps SEND teams stay on track to meet statutory timelines, including key decision points within 6, 16, and 20 weeks.

3. Sticky save button

Acknowledging the length and complexity of some EHCP plans, Idox has introduced a ‘sticky’ save button that remains visible as users scroll. This intuitive feature eliminates unnecessary navigation, making it easier for users to save progress and reducing frustration.

4. Download parent/carer request

To improve resilience and user confidence, particularly for mobile and tablet users, parents and carers can now download draft submissions. And with an added signal-loss warning, this enhancement ensures that work is not lost – supporting an improved user experience.

5. Date validation

Built-in validation reduces errors in key data fields, such as date of birth, saving time previously spent correcting inaccuracies. This also supports more efficient statutory reporting, including SEN2 returns to the Department for Education.

6. Mandatory consent capture

A simple but important addition allows schools to quickly and consistently capture parental consent for sharing personal information, ensuring compliance while streamlining administrative processes.

With these enhancements, EHC Hub continues to demonstrate why it is a system local authorities – and increasingly education settings – can’t do without. By combining user-led innovation with a deep understanding of the SEND landscape, Idox is helping organisations navigate reform, reduce pressure, and deliver better outcomes for children and young people.