Mar 14, 2025, MSN: More SEND pupils could go to mainstream schools as support shake-up is considered
The Government is considering tightening the rules on which children with special educational needs qualify for specified extra support, in a move that could result in more of them being educated in mainstream schools.
Sources in the special educational needs sector have told The i Paper that legal changes to the criteria for education, health and care plans (EHCPs) – which guarantee pupils a certain level of support in schools – are being considered by ministers.
The end result could mean a reduction in the number of children with plans that entitle them to expensive state-funded places in private special schools, and an increase in the number of pupils with SEND in mainstream schools.
The Government is already committed to increasing the capacity in schools that could help this happen. In December, the Department for Education (DfE) announced £740m [$956M] of capital funding to create more specialist SEND places in mainstream schools.
This can be used to adapt classrooms for children with SEND, and to create specialist facilities within mainstream schools that can deliver more intensive support adapted to pupils’ needs.
The number of EHCPs has surged in recent years – by 71 per cent from 253,679 in 2018 to 434,354 last year, according to Department for Education (DfE) data.
This increase is the main reason local authorities have accumulated a combined £3.3bn [$4.3B] deficit in their “high needs” education budgets, according to a report by the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) in December.
However, some campaigners are alarmed by the idea of any change that could cut the number of EHCPs.
How changing EHCP thresholds could work
Under the 2014 Children and Families Act, children are granted an EHCP following a two-step legal test. Firstly, a school parent can request an EHCP assessment if the child has or may have special educational needs and if these needs can only be met via special educational provision.
After the assessment, if the local authority judges that the child’s needs cannot be met within a mainstream school, they will issue an EHCP.
A revision of the thresholds set by the 2014 Act could mean less support for SEND children, with a push to educate more within mainstream schools.
A union source specialising in SEND said changing EHCP thresholds is an “obvious solution to the present situation which is out of control”. They said this could be via changing the assessment criteria or by becoming “stricter about producing plans”.
Campaigners to fight any ‘threat’ of change
Rachel Filmer of Special Needs Jungle, which supports families of children with SEND, said: “Even with the law as it stands, our most vulnerable children are being failed, and the social and financial costs of that failure are mounting.
“Reducing the legal rights of disabled children, aside from being morally bankrupt, will do nothing to avert bankruptcies in local authorities and pressure on government spending.
Opmerkingen