Tens of thousands of pupils could have their needs met without an education, health and care plan (EHCP) and in a mainstream school rather than a specialist setting if the system was improved, the schools minister has told MPs.
Catherine McKinnell highlighted these findings from a new report in response to an urgent question on the special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) crisis in the House of Commons today.
The report is an analysis of findings gathered as part of the government’s Delivering Better Value programme, which has worked with more than 50 local authorities to support their high-needs spending to become financially sustainable amid concerns over deficits.
‘Pave the way for a sustainable system’
Ms McKinnell said: “Independently commissioned insights suggest that if the system was extensively improved, using early intervention and better resourcing in mainstream schools, it could lead to tens of thousands more children and young people having their needs met without an EHCP and having their needs met in mainstream schools, rather a specialist setting.
“This can pave the way for a sustainable system where schools cater for all children and where special schools cater only for those with the most complex needs.”
The questions in the Commons follow the publication of a separate report by public spending watchdog the National Audit Office, which called on the government to develop a long-term vision for inclusion in mainstream schools and warned that a solution was needed to put councils’ SEND spending on a sustainable footing.
It said that more than four in 10 councils could need to declare effective bankruptcy by March 2026 when a statutory override - which keeps their deficits off their books - is due to expire.
Ms McKinnell said: “Today’s report by the National Audit Office is bang on the money. This is a system that has totally lost the confidence of families.
“Families and children with SEND are being failed on every measure. Even ministers opposite have admitted that they should hang their heads in shame at the failure to support children with special educational needs.”
Ms McKinnell pledged that changes coming will be “huge and complex”, setting up a system that is “inclusive, mainstream, with high and rising standards and opportunities for all”.
But when asked by Liberal Democrat education spokesperson Munira Wilson about a timescale for the reforms, she said she would outline required changes to the law and other areas “in due course”.
An Insights Summary from the government’s Delivering Better Value programme, published today, says that if the system worked in an improved way, 65 per cent of the children and young people reviewed could have had their needs met in a more effective way.
This was based on 1,550 local practitioners and professionals analysing “the stories of over 1,650 children and young people with SEND”.
The report adds that evidence indicates that if the system was improved, it could lead to 30,000 more children having their needs met through SEN Support (rather than an EHCP) and 35,000 more children having their needs met in a mainstream setting rather than a specialist placement, including 15,000 more children being supported through resourced provision.
Tes revealed earlier this year that initial insights from the Delivering Better Value programme had found that more than half of pupils placed in special schools whose cases were analysed could have been better off in mainstream with the right support.
Most EHCPs don’t have SMART goals
The report published today also identified concerns around EHCPs. It said that the majority of EHCPs held by children and young people aged 16-25 do not have goals defined in a SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, timebound) way and did not involve the children and young people when setting the goals.
It said the impact of this is that, for many young people, there is no clear direction from the plan and it is harder to achieve the goals set in it.
The government was asked in the House of Lords today what it will do to review the effectiveness of the EHCP process.
Education minister Baroness Smith acknowledged the struggles young people with SEND face when trying to access the right support - particularly through “a long and difficult EHCP process”.
Labour is currently working on delivering its manifesto commitment to take a “community-wide” approach to SEND, she added.
That work will improve inclusivity in mainstream schools and ensure special schools cater to the children with the “most complex needs”.
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