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Thousands of minority pupils could be entitled to a full package of special education support in England under radical changes being considered by Sir Keir Starmer, as Labor seeks to improve the “neglected” system.
Senior government officials say ministers are looking at legislation to change the system in which children with special educational needs (SEN) receive the support plans they need to access the full suite of government support.
Education, health and support plans (EHCPs) were introduced in 2014 as part of the Children and Families Act, which established support that local authorities have a legal obligation to provide for children with high needs.
EHCPs open up additional assistance to those who qualify, including individual support, transportation services and, in some cases, access to affordable private education.
The proposals being considered include changes to the system that supports the provision of support, which may affect children at the “light” end of the spectrum of conditions such as ADHD and autism spectrum disorder, according to a senior official.
“It will mean that a few thousand students are not getting the report,” said one official.
The move will be one of a wider suite of reforms being brought to the SEN program by Starmer.
The government wants to significantly increase the provision of special education support to mainstream schools, including £740mn announced this month for local authorities to create new SEN places.
It also vowed to improve early intervention services provided in schools to prevent student conditions from worsening over time.
Starmer said this week that “his legacy to SEN is a system that has been neglected to the point of crisis”.
“We need to reorganize, establish an early intervention system, and make sure this is a priority,” he told the House Communications Committee on Thursday.
“If we don't change the way special education is provided, we will never be able to close the gap and fix the problem,” he added.
Experts say the SEN system has been undermined by the ballooning demand for EHCPs and is putting huge pressure on council budgets.
At the moment, they argue, too little support is provided to people with SEN who do not receive a description, driving families and schools to seek EHCPs in other less-than-ideal settings.
Local authorities have accumulated shortfalls in their top budget requirements of around £3.3bn this year, according to the IFS, which warned this could rise to more than £8bn over the next three years.
First Outcomes Group, England's largest provider of specialist education for children with SEN, released a report this week calling on the government to scrap the EHCP system and tiered assessment model.
The proposed model will limit the definitions to “more complex cases of SEN that require extensive and specialist intervention”, while providing simpler and more targeted interventions for people with less complex needs.
Luke Sibieta, research fellow at the Institute for Fiscal Studies think-tank, said that with the increase in the number of students with EHCPs, “it is not surprising that the government is starting to think about degrees”.
Sibieta added that the “missing part of the existing system” is the support of the state for those with their needs who do not qualify for the full EHCP right.
The number of children and young people needing special education support in England has doubled in the past ten years, from 240,000 in January 2015 to 576,000 in January 2024, according to the National Audit Office.
Almost five per cent of all students now have a special needs plan, up from a steady level of 2.9 per cent between 2000 and 2018, according to the IFS.
The increase in demand has outstripped the money, despite the increase in real terms in the budget with the highest needs of the government of more than 50 per cent in the last decade – from £6.8bn in 2015 to £10bn in 2024.
The government said “there are many children whose needs are not being met and parents are forced to fight for support”, adding that it is determined to “restore the confidence of families” across the country.