The latest Government release of data
on the number of children and young people with an Education,
Health and Care Plan (EHCP) shows an increase again to a new
high of 473,255, up from 430,697 last year (1). This is a 97%
increase on 2015.
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There has been another 9.9% increase
in the total number of EHCPs; this continues the trend of 10%
rises year on year.
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There is no significant improvement
in timelines of EHCPs; the legal 20-week target for issuing new
plans has been consistently missed by around 40%, whether
pre-pandemic, in the midst of the pandemic, or now
emerging from it.
Funding for pupils with an EHCP has
not kept up with the huge rise in need. In order to restore
an Education, Health and Care Plan to its real value in 2015-16
would require an additional £3.6bn. The funding gap has increased
by another £700m on last year.
Commenting on the latest
statistics, Kevin
Courtney, Joint General Secretary of the National Education
Union,
said:
“The latest release of pupils with
high level special educational needs and disabilities (SEND)
shows that the government do not have a plan to support children
and young people with high level special educational needs and
disabilities. The government continues to underfund SEND
education, and its SEND and Alternative Provision Green Paper
does not contain the scale of ambition required to tackle this
crisis. The government needs to increase resources for local
authorities so that they can support schools to provide education
for these pupils and fulfil their statutory duties to
them.
“The pandemic has resulted in many
more children needing additional support. The Government rejected
the conclusions of their recovery tsar, Sir , and then failed to come up
with effective interventions.
“Parents of SEND children are
crying out for this government to tackle this crisis in
provision. Every year the Government delays fundamental change is
another year children with SEND fail to get the support they
need.”
Editor’s
Note
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https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/education-health-and-care-plans#dataBlock-571a2323-e7df-4568-169d-08da1949a37a-tables
