SEND white paper – pivotal moment for children and families or just another report?

The problem

Special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) among pupils is rising resulting in spiralling costs threatening to bankrupt councils. More than £10 billion a year is spent in England, but children with SEND are still under-achieving, disengaged from education and disproportionately excluded from mainstream schools. Parents describe a postcode lottery and fighting an adversarial system for support which only comes when needs are high enough to secure an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP). As a result, more parents are pulling their children out of schools to home educate.

What do the stats say?

The number of children identified with SEND has risen from 1.3 million in 2014 to 1.7 million, equal to one in five children.

The number of children on EHCPs has gone up by 250 per cent since 2014, when the plans were introduced. There are now 638,000 children on EHCPs, equal to 5.3 per cent of all pupils.

The most common primary special educational need is speech, language and communication difficulties (25.7 per cent), according to Department for Education figures for England.

Next comes mental health needs (23.6 per cent), followed by moderate learning difficulties (14.4 per cent).

Autistic spectrum disorder (ASD) diagnoses are the most common reason for gaining an EHCP, accounting for a third of pupils, followed by speech, language and communication needs (20.7 per cent). 

All of these, apart from moderate learning difficulties, have risen sharply since 2016 and account for 80 per cent of the growth over the last decade.

The reasons for the rises in SEND are complex and debated. A report last month by the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) says it's likely to be a combination of changing diagnostic criteria; different methods of identification and understanding; biological causes, increasing poverty and “other societal factors”.

How bad are things?

“Breaking point”, “broken”, “crisis”, “close to collapse”, and “no longer fit for purpose” are some of the phrases used to describe the system in recent months. 

If nothing is done the County Councils Network (CCN) predicts the number of EHCPs will rise to 840,000 by 2029. It warns the local authority cumulative SEND deficit in England will grow from £4 billion to £17.8 billion.

CCN is calling on the government to wipe the deficit, claiming 59 councils will “go bankrupt overnight” when a temporary statutory override allowing them to ignore SEND debt from their accounts ends in 2028. 

Bill Revans, SEND spokesperson for CCN, said: “Without action, the system could face total collapse by the end of this parliament.”

The National Audit Office has described the current system as financially unsustainable. A report commissioned by the Local Government Association (LGA) published in May said it “is not working well for anyone in it”, adding that “at its most extreme, the current system can cause long-term misery, stress and hardship for young people and their families”.

And it looks like things could get worse, with the LGA reporting need in children under five rising due to an increase in “communication and interaction needs”.

What else is fuelling the current crisis?

Public policy has played a part. The IPPR report Breaking the cycle: A blueprint for SEND Reform highlights a 46 per cent reduction in spending on early intervention from 2010 to 2022. Spending on special educational needs and public health services was also cut during the austerity years.

At the same time, waiting lists for Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services NHS therapy and neurological assessments have ballooned.

Another factor was the removal of a “bias towards inclusion” in favour of parental choice brought in with the Children and Families Act 2014, a policy shaped by the recommendations of the 2009 Lamb Inquiry.

This saw a 50 per cent increase in children educated in special schools. A shortage of state places means councils have to rely heavily on independent placements where fees can exceed £70,000 per child a year. This, in turn, has contributed to a reduction of funding for support in mainstream schools.

The act also replaced statements with EHCPs, giving parents a legal right to support, which removed economies of scale, creating thousands of individualised case-by-case plans rather than universal services.

Obtaining an EHCP is now often the only way for parents to secure any form of educational, health, early years and social care support, stretching the act beyond its intended design.

Meanwhile, support offered in mainstream schools is limited by minimal SEND training for teachers, SENCOs overwhelmed by caseloads and a shortage of educational psychologists.

It is little surprise, then that many parents have elected to home educate. Some 150,000 children were educated at home in England during the last academic year, up from 92,000 in 2023 and 80,000 in 2022. Even allowing for the Covid effect it’s a striking increase. The rise, and the Sara Sharif tragedy, has resulted in the government introducing compulsory ‘children not in school’ registers.

Is the system fair?

No. Councils overwhelmed by requests for EHCPs act as gatekeepers, raising thresholds and relying on tribunals to resolve disputes. Research published by The Sutton Trust in October underlines inequalities within the SEND system. Its report showed disadvantaged children are more likely to have special educational needs and less likely to get support.

Better off families are more likely to secure a special school place for a child with SEND – 41 per cent do so compared to 25 per cent in low-income families. This reflects the fact that they are more likely to appeal or pay the thousands of pounds needed to take their authority to a tribunal.

Hundreds of families wait over a year to get an EHCP and in 2023/24 there were 21,000 appeals against decisions, up 55 per cent on the previous year. Most cases – 95 per cent – were won. But not all parents have equal ability to launch and go through an appeal process.

So what’s the answer?

The previous administration published a SEND Review: Right Support, Right Place, Right Time in 2022 with proposals for reform.

An improvement plan followed a year later, the headline reform being the creation of a single national SEND system “underpinned by national standards” and new inclusion dashboards gathering local data.

National standards were endorsed by an education committee report Solving the SEND Crisis published in September. It also called for a basic level of SEND provision that all schools are expected to deliver.

There is common agreement that mainstream schools need to be more inclusive of children with SEND. A more inclusive school environment, backed by resources and trained staff, it is believed will improve engagement and shift reliance on EHCPs to get support. 

As the IPPR report says: “Inclusive provision starts with high-quality teaching, adaptive classroom practice and better whole-school approaches to inclusion.

“It requires excellent early years and family support that focuses on supporting child development. Making the educational environment more inclusive will mean that more children get the support and adjustments that they need to thrive as part of their day-to-day experience.”

Support that does not rely on diagnosis or assessment should be introduced, adds the IPPR, with EHCPs only “for the most complex needs”.

However, following a 125,000-strong petition, the government has assured that a legal right for assessment and support, as currently represented by EHCPs, will not be removed.

Such a change to the school environment requires workforce reforms in schools and further education colleges. CCN calls for multi-disciplinary support including therapists, educational psychologists and “other services” which, no doubt, would include social workers.

“SEND must become an intrinsic part of the mainstream education system,” says the Education Committee. “The government must therefore invest in the skills of all current and future school staff, making SEND the responsibility of the whole school.

“This cultural shift would then calm the need for complex, costly education, health and care plans in the long-term, and help put schools' and local authorities’ finances on a sustainable footing.”

Will it happen?

The SEND system is at a crossroads. The problems are well understood and the evidence for change is overwhelming. In October education secretary Bridget Phillipson pushed back the Schools White Paper to early 2026 because the government wants to further test and consult on the SEND reforms.

While this has caused frustration, it may reflect a commitment to getting things right after a decade of piecemeal and inadequate reform.

Among parents, stakeholders and in government circles, there is a sense that the time for words and reviews is over and urgent action is needed. 

Such a cultural shift towards more universal provision and early intervention will, inevitably, cost a lot of money. In a tight fiscal environment, will the government find the funds to “deliver the sustainable system” promised in the autumn budget?

The cost of not investing, in terms of lost opportunities, escalating need and growing council deficits, will undoubtedly be greater.