The number of children in England approaching councils for
special needs support has increased by almost a quarter in a
year, latest figures reveal, with 170 young people now starting
support plans each day.
This comes as the Government is currently consulting over its
proposed special educational needs and disabilities (SEND)
reforms that it set out earlier this year.
Education and council leaders are gathering at the Local
Government Association’s Annual Conference in Harrogate today to
discuss the reforms with Education Secretary set to address the conference
tomorrow (Thursday).
The LGA, which represents councils, says emergency action is
needed now, to help meet the rising demand for SEND support.
It is calling on the Government to scrap the high needs deficits
councils have built up, as a result of the spiralling costs of
providing support outstripping the SEND budgets available to
councils.
New figures show the number of initial requests for an Education,
Health and Care (EHC) plan, which sets out the provision of SEND
support for each individual, fell to 75,951 in 2020, following
four consecutive years of increases, partly due to the impact of
the pandemic and successive lockdowns.
This then jumped by 23 per cent to 93,302 in 2021.
With councils having to make difficult decisions over where
support is provided, there were 62,180 new EHC plans made in the
last year, amounting to 170 children and young people starting a
plan each day.
There are now nearly half a million children and young people
(473,255) on ECH plans – an increase of over 100 per cent since
eligibility for SEND support was extended in 2014 to people aged
16-25.
While eliminating high needs deficits will help councils in the
short-term, the LGA says boosting the inclusion of pupils with
SEND in mainstream schools is vital.
This needs to include incentives for mainstream schools to take
in more children with SEND as well as powers for councils to hold
schools to account for the support they provide.
Cllr Anntoinette Bramble, Chair of the LGA’s Children and Young
People Board, said:
“The fact that 170 children and young people with SEND are
starting EHC plans each day, demonstrates the huge pressures
councils are under to ensure every child gets the very best
support that meets their needs.
“While it was good the Government set out much-needed reforms to
tackle where the current SEND system is not working, these will
take time to be implemented.
“Action is needed now to help councils meet the rising demand and
spiralling costs of providing support that they are seeing on a
daily basis.
“This is why we are urging the Government to eliminate councils’
high needs deficits, which would help to significantly relieve
the strain on councils’ budgets and enable them to better support
children with SEND.”
Notes to editors
- The Local Government Association will host its in-person
annual conference between June 28-30 in Harrogate. Speakers will
include Levelling Up Secretary , Education
Secretary , Shadow Levelling
Up Secretary , Liberal Democrat
leader Sir and crossbench peer
Baroness Lola Young.
Please visit our Annual Conference
website to view the full programme. To book your place,
contact greg.burns@local.gov.uk for
a media promotion code to obtain a complimentary pass.
-
Latest EHC plan
figures published by the Department for Education and
statistics from 2014
