Education for pupils with special needs is “in crisis” and needs radical changes to ensure hundreds of thousands of children get the help they need, a damning report by MPs has warned. It comes as the Government prepares to unveil radical changes which have already sparked opposition from parents. Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson is expected to announce a move away from the reliance on education, health and care (EHC) plans, which give children a legal right to support, with special needs education instead provided by default in classrooms for youngsters that need it.
Helen Hayes, chair of the Commons Education Committee, said support for pupils with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) was “broken, long past needing repair, and chronically letting down children”. The number of children and young people identified with special educational needs has surged from 1.3 million in 2014 to 1.7 million, and nearly half a million pupils have an (EHC) plan.
But the Committee said it heard from “exhausted parents” fighting for basic support, teachers “stretched beyond capacity” and teachers working in an education system “buckling under pressure”.
MPs said: “The current system is not working. The level of need is placing overwhelming strain on services and professionals across both the education and health sectors, ultimately creating a crisis.”
They said special needs education must become an intrinsic part of the mainstream education system, reducing the need for expensive EHC plans and cutting the cost to schools and local authorities.
The cross-party committee called on the Government to provide better training to teachers and ensure the health service works more closely with schools.
It also called for an increase in the number of specialist school places in the state sector, so that more children can be educated closer to home and spending on expensive independent school places can be cut.
Autism is the most common type of need cited in EHC plans, mentioned in one third of cases,, but the Committee heard that since the Covid pandemic there has also been a particular increase in speech, language and communication needs, and social, emotional and mental health needs.