Reforms to the special educational needs and disabilities system may have led to a worse experience for children with mild SEND, MPs have heard today.
The Commons Education Select Committee heard this morning that in some areas the focus on children with education, health and care plans (EHCPs) had led to reduced provision for those children with special needs but no EHCP - known as those needing SEN support.
“In some areas, the focus on EHCPs has reduced provision for children not on that level, particularly in relation to therapists,” said Jean Gross, chair of the Bercow: Ten Years On review of provision for children and young people with speech, language and communication needs in England.
She told the committee that some speech therapists had informed the review that they could not work with children without EHCPs, “so it may have made it worse”.
The committee is holding an inquiry into the effects of the 2014 reforms to the SEND system.
Dame Christine Lenehan, director for the Council for Disabled Children, told the inquiry that there had been a pressure in the first three years of the new system to transfer children who had statements of special educational need onto EHCPs.
“That level of pressure in the system, which did not have the flexibility and did not have the funding, means our worry is that the other 12 per cent of children who need SEN support are not yet getting support in the way they should,” she said.
“It is not clearly defined in schools, it’s not clearly understood enough in schools, and that remains an area of significant challenge.”
More than 1.25 million children with SEND were being taught in English schools in January 2017, according to the latest government statistics.
The data shows that 2.9 per cent of pupils (about 250,000), have EHCPs and 11.6 per cent (about 1 million pupils) are on SEN support.
A Department for Education spokesperson said: “We want to make sure all children with special educational needs get the support they need, whether that is through an Education, Health and Care plan or otherwise. That is why are investing a record £6 billion in the high needs budget this year. We require schools to ensure they have the right support in place, including dedicated SEN co-ordinators in every school.”
