EHCPs up 11% as DfE mulls their future

The number of education, health and care plans has more than doubled since 2016. Here are five key points from today’s DfE data

12th June 2025, 12:41pm

John Roberts

The number of pupils with education, health and care plans has risen by 11 per cent in the past year as the government considers whether they are the “right vehicle” for a reformed special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) system.

The latest Department for Education data shows there are 482,640 pupils with EHCPs in schools in 2025, up from 434,354 the previous year.

The figures also show that the number of EHCPs has more than doubled since 2016.

Last month Tes revealed that the government is considering whether EHCPs are “the right vehicle” for delivering provision for pupils with SEND.

And yesterday, the government’s Spending Review documents confirmed that reforms of the SEND system would be part of a Schools White Paper due to be published in the autumn.

Here is the key information from this morning’s DfE SEND data:

1. EHCPs and SEN support pupil numbers keep rising

The SEND data published by the department today shows that the number of pupils with SEN support has increased by 3.7 per cent from 2024 to 2025, and by 29.5 per cent since 2016.

The percentage of pupils with an EHCP increased to 5.3 per cent in 2025 from 4.8 per cent last year.

The DfE said this continued a trend of increases since 2016. Prior to then, the rate had remained steady at 2.8 per cent, according to the department.

EHCPs were introduced as part of SEND reforms in 2014.

The proportion of pupils with special educational needs who have an EHCP is also increasing: this figure is now 27.3 per cent, up from 19.3 per cent in 2016.

Overall, 1.7 million pupils in England have SEND, according to today’s data.

This is an increase of 93,700 pupils (5.6 per cent) since 2024. This includes the number of pupils with an EHCP and the number of pupils with SEN support, both of which continue the trend of increases since 2016.

The percentage of pupils with SEN support and no EHCP has increased to 14.2 per cent, from 13.6 per cent in 2024.

2. Increase in mainstream SEND units

The Labour government has made the use of resourced provision and SEND units to support pupils to stay in mainstream schools a key focus of its drive to make the system more inclusive.

The latest data shows that in January 2025, there were 449 schools in England with SEND units, an increase from 392 in 2024.

There were 1,217 schools with a resourced provision, up from 1,168 in 2023.

SEND units are special provisions in a mainstream school where pupils are taught in separate classes for at least half of their time.

Resourced provisions are for pupils who spend the majority of their time in a mainstream class but who require a base and some specialist facilities for their needs.

A Tes investigation last year revealed concerns that schools needed more guidance and funding to effectively run these provisions.

3. SEN support is most prevalent at age 9

The percentage of pupils who have SEN support increases during primary school age, reaching a peak of 17 per cent of pupils at age 9.

The data shows this steadily declines through secondary ages, to 13.7 per cent at age 15. The proportion continues to decrease after compulsory school age.

The percentage of pupils with an EHCP also increases with age, from 3.6 per cent at age 4 up to 6.2 per cent at age 11, before slowly declining to 5.7 per cent at age 15.

The proportion continues to decrease after compulsory school age.

4. SEND continues to be more prevalent in boys than girls

The data shows that 71.4 per cent of pupils with an EHCP, and 61.2 per cent of pupils with SEN support, are male.

There were 317,202 boys and 127,217 girls with EHCPs.

However, the proportion of pupils with SEND who are male has been decreasing slightly in recent years.

5. Autism is the most common need on EHCPs

The data breaks down EHCPs by the primary need of pupils.

One in three pupils with an EHCP are identified with a primary need of an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) (33.6 per cent) and one in five have a primary need of speech, language and communications needs (20.7 per cent).

The most common type of need among pupils with SEN support are speech, language and communication needs, with 25.7 per cent having this primary need.

This is followed by social, emotional and mental health needs (23.6 per cent) and moderate learning difficulty (14.4 per cent).

When the data for EHCPs and SEN support is combined, the most common primary need is speech, language and communication needs.