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Thousands fewer pupils could be eligible for the full package of special education support in England under sweeping changes being considered by Sir Keir Starmer, as Labor seeks to improve the “neglected” system.
Senior government officials have said ministers are considering legislation to change the system under which children with special educational needs (SEN) get the support plans they need to access full state benefits.
Education, Health and Support Plans (EHCPs) were introduced in 2014 as part of the Children and Families Act, which sets out the support that local authorities have a legal obligation to provide to children with the greatest needs.
EHCPs unlock extra help for those who qualify, including one-to-one support, transport services and, in some cases, access to expensive private education.
Proposals being considered include changes to the system that underpins the provision of support, which would likely affect children at the “milder” end of the spectrum for conditions such as ADHD and autism spectrum disorder, according to a senior official.
“That would mean thousands fewer students would get statements,” one official said.
The move would be just one step in a wider series of reforms that Starmer is introducing to the SEN system.
The Government is looking to significantly increase support for special education in mainstream schools, including £740 million announced this month for local authorities to create new special needs places.
He also pledged to improve early intervention services offered to schools to prevent pupils from deteriorating over time.
Starmer said this week that his “legacy at SEN is a system neglected to the point of complete crisis”.
“We need to reform, put in place a much earlier system of intervention and make sure this is largely mainstream,” he told parliament’s Liaison Committee on Thursday.
“If we don’t change the way special education is delivered, we will never be able to fill the gap and solve the problem,” he added.
Experts say the SEN system is broken with increasing demand for EHCPs and a heavy burden on strained council budgets.
Meanwhile, they argue, very limited support is offered to people with special needs who do not receive a statement, forcing families and schools to seek EHCPs for some less severe conditions.
Local authorities have accumulated deficits in their high needs budgets of around £3.3bn this year, according to the IFS, which warned this could rise to more than £8bn over the next three years.
The Outcomes First Group, the largest provider of specialist education for children with special needs in England, published a report this week calling on the government to redesign the EHCP process with a tiered assessment model.
The proposed model would limit statements to “severe SEN cases requiring comprehensive and specialist intervention”, while offering simpler and more targeted interventions to people with less complex needs.
Luke Sibieta, a research fellow at the Institute for Fiscal Studies, said that given the increasing number of students with EHCPs, “it’s no surprise if the government starts thinking about tiering”.
Sibieta added that “the missing part of the current system” is government support for those whose needs do not qualify for full EHCP entitlement.
The number of children and young people needing special educational support in England has more than doubled in the past decade, from 240,000 in January 2015 to 576,000 in January 2024, according to the National Audit Office.
Almost five per cent of all pupils now have a special needs plan, up from a steady rate of 2.9 per cent between 2000 and 2018, according to the IFS.
The rise in demand has outstripped funding, despite a real increase in the government’s high-needs budget of more than 50 per cent over the past decade — from £6.8bn in 2015 to more than £10bn in 2024.
The government said there were “too many children whose needs are not being met and parents are forced to struggle for support”, adding that it was determined to “restore the trust of families” across the country.
