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‘Large’ increase in pupils with care plans in PRUs

‘Large’ increase in pupils with care plans in PRUs

The proportion of children with Education, Health and Care plans in pupil-referral units has increased significantly

2nd July 2020, 2:47pm

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The number of pupils with an Education, Health and Care plans in pupil-referral Units in England has increased, new figures from the Department of Education show.

The latest DfE document states: “There has been a large increase in the percentage of pupils in pupil-referral units with an EHC plan.”

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The total number has increased to 1,617 in 2019/20 from 1,448 the previous academic year.

Pupils with an EHC plan now make up 16.8 per cent of all pupils in a PRU, up from 13.8 per cent in 2018/19.

The rise has been steady over the past few years. While the rise in pupils with an EHC plan is reflected in the general school population, the total number of pupils in PRUs has instead seen a decline.

Drop in the number of children with SEN support in pupil-referral units

The number and proportion of pupils in PRUs with SEN support has also declined.

The figures for students with SEN support in PRUs in England have been declining since 2016/17, as the table below shows.

Despite the decline, students with SEN support still make up two-thirds of the PRU pupil population in England.

While these figures only refer to PRUs, they are representative of all the alternative provision sector, which includes academy and free school alternative provisions.

In alternative provision, the proportion of students with EHC plans has increased from 13.4 per cent to 16.4 per cent since last year, while the proportion with SEN support has decreased from 67.6 per cent to 64.9 per cent, according to the DfE.

Kiran Gill, CEO of education charity The Difference, pointed to the predominance of students with special education needs and disabilities in PRUs.

She told Tes: “Children in PRUs are often the most marginalised and those with the least advocacy - and it’s really important that we prioritise their education as children with learning needs and disabilities as much as we do for those in special schools.

“There is a real funding disparity between special schools and PRUs, but you can see from today’s data that they are overwhelmingly catering to children with learning needs and those children are no less deserving than others.”