MeritDocs is a SEND provision-management platform for schools and multi-academy trusts. It brings provision mapping, pupil passports, support plans and review cycles into one place, so the plan a school writes stays connected to the support it puts in place and the progress it tracks.
At the centre of that is a personalised Individual Support Plan (ISP): a document built around a particular pupil's needs, strengths, views and evidence, with outcomes, the provision in place and clear review arrangements. An ISP is only useful if it reflects the pupil rather than a generic template, and if it stays current after it is written.
MeritDocs supports two ways into a personalised ISP. Staff can create a new plan with the Document Wizard, or upload an existing Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) to skip the blank-page stage and work from evidence the pupil already has. Both routes lead to the same maintained record, connected to provision, outcomes, progress, costed support and reviews.
Route one: create a new ISP with the Document Wizard
When a pupil needs a new ISP and there is no suitable existing document to work from, the Document Wizard gives staff a structured route into the process.
Staff provide the information that makes the plan specific to the pupil: their needs and strengths, the pupil's own voice and family views, the outcomes the school is working towards, the provision in place and the review arrangements. MeritDocs uses that evidence to help organise the information into a structured SEND document.
The AI helps with drafting and structure. It does not diagnose the pupil or decide what the provision should be. The result is a reviewable draft rather than a blank form or a block of generic text. Staff edit the wording, check that it reflects the pupil and decide whether the proposed outcomes and provision are appropriate before approving it.
The Document Wizard is useful when the school is creating a plan from a new or incomplete starting point. It helps staff get moving without asking them to design the document structure or write every section from scratch.
Route two: upload an existing EHCP and skip the blank-page stage
For pupils with an EHCP in England, much of the information needed for school support is already recorded.
The school already holds information about the pupil's needs, views, outcomes, provision and relevant professional advice. Rather than copy that into a new wizard by hand, staff can upload the EHCP and let MeritDocs use the existing record as the basis for the school-side ISP.
Uploading an EHCP lets staff skip the Document Wizard stage. They upload the EHCP and related files, review the information MeritDocs has identified from them, and move towards a structured ISP without re-entering the pupil's history section by section. MeritDocs can process PDF, DOCX and image files, and several files can be handled for one pupil, with source previews and proposed content available for staff to check.
The upload does more than attach an EHCP to a pupil profile. It turns the existing document into usable, structured information for the school's next plan.
Staff review the upload before it enters the record
Skipping the blank-page stage does not mean skipping professional review.
An EHCP and its related documents contain different kinds of information: the pupil's own words, a parent's view, staff observations, professional recommendations, agreed outcomes, provision detail and statements that may since have become historic.
MeritDocs keeps the original source documents separate from the proposed plan. It shows staff what has been identified, what has been mapped across, what still needs checking and what did not fit cleanly. Staff can edit, confirm, remap or leave content out before it becomes part of the working record.
A polished import can still be wrong. A school needs to know whether information came from the EHCP, whether it is current and whether it belongs in the new ISP, and MeritDocs keeps those decisions visible.
One connected record for the plan, the support and the review
Whichever route a school uses, the destination is the same: a structured, maintainable SEND record.
The Documents Hub keeps SEND documents organised and helps staff find the current plan and track review dates. The wider pupil record connects those documents to support information, review history and the pupil passport. Staff can export the approved plan as a PDF when they need a copy to share or file.
The ISP connects to the pupil's provision and review cycle, including costed support. At review, staff can consider the agreed provision alongside recorded progress and decide what should continue, change or stop.
Keeping the ISP current after it is written
An ISP should not become another file that is saved once and forgotten.
The pupil passport holds the current goals and targets that staff use day to day. Authorised teachers and support staff can record how a pupil is progressing, note achievements and flag setbacks from their own work with the pupil, according to their role and permissions. Where a goal needs to change, authorised staff can update it, and the SENCO keeps oversight of the support record.
For example, a plan might record that a pupil settles best with a visual timetable and short, clear instructions, and set an outcome around managing transitions between lessons more independently. Over the term, staff can note where transitions are going well and where a change of routine caused a setback, so the next review starts from what has actually happened. This is an illustration rather than a real pupil.
Because the plan, the pupil passport, the provision and the review stay connected, the next review builds on what has changed instead of starting again.
How this compares with a provision map or a document writer
A provision map is useful. It shows what support is in place, who is delivering it and when it should be reviewed.
For a school creating an ISP from an EHCP, the job also includes extracting relevant pupil information, checking the draft, sharing the agreed support and recording what changes afterwards. Those are the tasks to test alongside provision mapping when choosing software.
MeritDocs joins those stages together in one platform:
- a new ISP through the Document Wizard when the school is starting fresh;
- an EHCP upload when the school already has the evidence and wants to skip re-entry;
- source documents kept separate from the approved plan;
- a pupil passport with current goals and targets;
- provision, costed support and review information maintained over time.
What to ask for in a demonstration
Ask to see both starting points, not only a polished new document.
For a new ISP:
- How does the Document Wizard collect the pupil's information?
- What structure does the draft follow, and can staff edit and approve every section?
- What happens when information is missing?
For an existing EHCP:
- Can the school upload the EHCP and related documents?
- Does the upload remove the need to re-enter the same information into the wizard?
- Can staff see the source material behind the proposed ISP content, including anything unmapped or uncertain?
- Can the school correct the content before adopting it?
- Does the approved ISP connect to the pupil passport, the provision and the next review?
See it with your own SEND records
Ask the MeritDocs team to show the work after generation too: export the approved PDF, open the pupil passport, record progress against a target and follow that change into the next review. That demonstrates how the plan supports the staff using it throughout the term.
School staff review and approve the ISP. The statutory EHCP remains the local authority's responsibility in England under section 37 of the Children and Families Act 2014; the ISP puts school support into practice without replacing that statutory plan.
Schools can try MeritDocs with a 28-day free trial and free guided setup. The team can walk your SEND staff through new-plan creation, EHCP upload and ongoing support management. Arrange the walkthrough through the contact page; use the agreed secure upload process for pupil records, not the enquiry form. Contact the MeritDocs team to arrange a live walkthrough.