The current system of provision for children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) is broken and is failing SEND young people and the professionals working with them in schools, colleges, settings and specialist support services. Greater numbers of children are presenting with SEND. The number of children with an Education, Health and Care plan (EHCP) has more than doubled from 240,183 in 2015 to 575,963 in 2024. The increase is driven by four types of need: autism; ADHD; social, emotional and mental health difficulties; and speech, language and communication needs.
But despite that increase in the identification of children with SEND, the Department for Education have concluded that there has been no consistent improvement in outcomes for children and young people with SEND. Government funding for high needs education has more than doubled since 2015, but that is a long way short of the additional costs.
The National Audit Office estimate that local authorities’ education budgets will probably have deficits of £3bn by the end of March 2025.
There has been a 50% increase in the number of pupils attending special schools since 2015, but funding has not kept up with this increase. We calculate special schools need an additional £420m or 9% to restore their spending power.
When we surveyed members, just 1 in 10 teachers in mainstream schools told us that they have sufficient access to specialist support such as educational psychologists, speech and language therapists and CAMHS, as well as limited access to a learning support assistant or a school counsellor.
The consequences for children with special needs have been severe. Half of children who were issued an EHC plan in 2023 had to wait more than 20 weeks.
The last government recognised that SEND provision was in crisis, Gillian Keegan said so herself, and they launched a series of reviews, but they had neither the will to find the necessary resources nor the courage to deviate from Gove’s ideological path.
“Since lockdown it feels very much as if schools are the thin blue line supporting children and families on the breadline, with mental health issues and SEND, and although I work in excess of 50 hours a week actually in school I feel as if we are always on the verge of disaster. Teaching has always been akin to spinning plates - now it feels like spinning plates on a roller coaster.”NEU member (State of Education survey)