| SPOTLIGHT |
Educational outcomes for children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) have “failed to improve” since the introduction of landmark reforms in 2014, despite the costs of these services trebling.
These are the findings of an independent report commissioned by the County Councils Network and the Local Government Association, which has called for a “more radical programme of reform”.
The report outlines how councils are struggling to cope with a more than doubling number of children on Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCPs) within a system that creates “perverse incentives” to shift responsibility between public bodies and “inadvertently creates adversarial relationships between local authorities and parents”.
Authors noted that in order for the system to be equitable and sustainable, the state "must be clear on where the limits of individual choice and entitlement lie".
The report recommended that a reformed SEND statutory framework should include "new, independent, non-judicial mechanisms for dealing with disagreements about decision-making".
For instance, the report authors envisaged a role for a new National Institute of Inclusive Education, which would act as an "independent custodian of national expectations and evidence-based practice", as opposed to the Tribunal.
However, SEND legal advice charity IPSEA warned that the report "misunderstood" the role of the Tribunal.
It said: "The proposed solution is to dismantle the existing statutory framework, and try by every means necessary to reduce the number of children and young people who have a statutory right to provision that meets their needs.
"The inconvenient situation where the SEND Tribunal applies the law by overturning unlawful local decision-making and making sure individual children and young people receive the provision they need would, according to this blueprint, be addressed by simply removing the Tribunal’s role in SEND appeals. But the report misunderstands the role of the Tribunal. Children and young people with SEND will always need a judicial route of redress when their rights are disregarded, and IPSEA will do everything we can to make sure they continue to have this.”
The research found that since the 2014 SEND reforms, the number of children and young people with EHCPs has risen from 240,183 in 2015 to 575,973 in 2023/24 - an increase of 140% over 10 years.
The report observes that the increase in the identification of SEND appears to have been greater in England than in other large European nations.
Authors warned that although more money than “ever before” is being invested in SEND, it is “significantly less” than what is actually being spent by local authorities, health services and education settings.
The report estimates that local authorities are projected to be spending £12bn a year on SEND services by 2026, but will still face a £5bn funding black hole to meet demand that year.
The Local Government Association and County Councils Network said: “Those deficits are currently being kept off councils’ balance sheets, but if they were to be placed onto their accounts, one in four councils surveyed for the research said that they would cease to be solvent within a year or less: a significant financial cliff edge.”
The report found that despite the increase in spending, educational attainment for pupils has not improved, including reading, writing and maths, and at various different ages.
At the end of primary school in 2022/23, only 8% of children and young people with EHCPs achieved the expected level in reading, writing and mathematics – exactly the same percentage who achieved that level in 2016/17.
Further, only 30% of young people with EHCPs achieved Level 2 by age 19 compared with nearly 37% who achieved this level in 2014/15.
The report argues there is a “strong consensus” for a “more radical programme of reform” - focused on meeting the needs of more SEND children in mainstream education.
It recommends the new government to invest in building capacity in mainstream schools to meet children’s needs, such as therapists, educational psychologists, and wider inclusion support, helping to reduce the reliance on specialist school places.
It also recommends “resetting the vision and guiding principles of the SEND system” towards inclusion, prevention and earlier support, which would cater for young people who do not have a statutory plan.
Cllr Tim Oliver, County Councils Network (CCN) Chairman, said: “The SEND system is broken. Wide-ranging reform in 2014 was well intentioned but a decade on, it has created a system that does not work for councils, schools and parents alike.
“[…] As this landmark report shows, the case for reform is unquestionable. With a new government in place and elected on a ‘change’ platform, it is vital that reform happens over the next 18 months. The government should build on this report’s clear recommendations and work with local government to create a system that is sustainable for councils and schools and works better for parents and pupils.”
Cllr Louise Gittins, Local Government Association (LGA) Chair, said: “What parents and children need and deserve is a properly reformed and funded SEND system that meets the care and support requirements of every child and young person with special needs.”
She added: “For too long, the current system has failed children with SEND and left parents struggling to ensure their child gets the support they desperately need. As set out in our Local Government White Paper, we are calling for action which builds new capacity and creates inclusion in mainstream settings, supported by adequate and sustainable long-term funding, and the writing off of councils’ high needs deficits.”
Responding to the report, Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson said: “This diagnosis is damning: educational outcomes for children with SEND are flatlining after years when councils and parents have been pitted against each other.
“This government will take a different approach, whether it’s transforming the early years to intervene earlier and deliver better outcomes for children, or launching our curriculum and assessment review to put high and rising standards and inclusion together at the heart of every school.
“We will restore parents’ trust that their child will get the support they need in mainstream school, if that is the right place for them. And that there will always be a place in special schools for children with the most complex needs.”
She added: “We have a broken system in desperate need of long-term renewal. I won’t make false promises, change won’t feel as quick as parents – or I – would like. I will make sure our approach is fully planned and delivered in concert with parents, schools, councils, and everyone who works with children."
Also responding to the report, ADCS President, Andy Smith, said: "While the 2014 SEND reforms were well intentioned, we have seen a range of unintended consequences emerge as a result of implementation and for many, education, health and care plans (EHCPs) are now considered to be the only way to access support.
"[...] The realigning of SEND and AP policy within the DfE into the Schools Group is an excellent first step from the government, indicating the importance of viewing SEND as part of the wider education system. This now needs to be supported by a holistic, cross-government approach on inclusive education to provide the initial scaffolding for the change we so urgently need to see."
Lottie Winson
