Radical SEND support shake-up risks political backlash
4 hours agoBranwen JeffreysEducation Editor
PALeaked details suggest special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) support is facing its biggest shake-up in a generation, potentially provoking a political backlash.
The reforms will be a complete system redesign, with children with Education Health and Care Plans (EHCPs) to be reassessed as they move from primary up to secondary school from 2029.
The BBC understands this will sit alongside an extension of legal rights to include all children with SEND through school-led Individual Support Plans (ISP).
Paul Whiteman, the General Secretary of the National Association of Headteachers, told the BBC “the current system fails children and fails schools”.
The radical plans could be unveiled in full as early as Monday, when MPs return to parliament, and there is likely to be dismay at a leak during recess and half term.
In England, there are around 482,000 school children with ECHPs, which set out in detail their individual legal rights to support.
Once those up to the age of 25 and those not in school are taken into account the full number of people with an EHCP in England rises to almost 639,000.
Many parents seek to get an EHCP in place before the end of primary school, often after a lengthy and frustrating process involving going to tribunals to challenge local authorities.
Parents often pay for their own assessments and legal costs, and there has been a marked increase in those seeking an EHCP in the last year as anxiety about reforms has grown.
Under the new system, the BBC understands children moving through each phase of education, so from primary to secondary, then potentially from secondary to college will be moved to the new system.
This means they will be reassessed.
As the government seeks to control rapidly rising costs, this will mean a smaller proportion retain these plans which involve health and social care as well as education needs.
Every child with identified special educational needs, including those who do not currently have an EHCP, will have an ISP drawn up by the school, which will have some kind of legal status.
This could involve a further 1.28 million children being given a promise of support although the exact nature of the legal rights attached to an ISP are not yet clear.
It’s understood there will be more emphasis on outcomes for children alongside the support they can expect.
The government is likely to argue this will mean more children get access to earlier support without a lengthy assessment process, potentially reducing the need for more intensive support later.
Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson has also signalled there needed to be a clearer set of criteria for when children access which level of support.
On the basis of initial details leaked, three layers of support are expected. They will be labelled Targeted, Targeted Plus and Specialist to reflect different needs.
While every child with SEND will have an ISP drawn up by their school, some will have more complex plans, which will meet national standards called Specialist Provision Packages.
These will be determined by an expert panel.
An EHCP will guarantee legal rights to education as set out in these national packages, which suggests they will ultimately be reserved for children with the most complex needs.
In meetings with parents over recent months, ministers have reaffirmed their intention to push for more children’s SEND needs to be met in mainstream schools.
More training for teachers has been promised alongside an ambition for an inclusion unit in every secondary school.
Whiteman said the the National Association of Headteachers was looking forward to seeing the full details of the proposals, and the “devil would be in the detail” of how the changes were funded and managed.
He added that as they currently understood them, the government’s plans “have the potential to ensure that children get the education they deserve” and might lift some of the pressure from schools and families.
One element of the rising costs for SEND provision has been the increased used of the independent sector to provide specialist school places.
Earlier the New Statesman political magazine reported the government will also impose a price cap on what they can charge as part of these wider reforms, which is likely to be set at £60,000 a year.
The government has already announced it will take SEND spending into central government after 2028.
The leaked details do not make clear how the government plans to plug a financial shortfall which the Office for Budget Responsibility says will be around £6bn by that point, and is forecast to increase without significant change.
These changes may face stiff resistance from SEND campaign groups worried they represent a watering down of legal rights for children.
As with any complex plans it is hard to assess the full implications until the details are published and laid before Parliament.
The plans come at a time when the Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer’s own political capital with Labour MPs has been weakened, raising the prospect of back bench rebellions if their post bags are flooded with letters of protest.
A Department for Education spokesperson said: “Our Schools White Paper will be an expansion of children’s rights – transforming children’s lives for the better and ending the one-size-fits-all school system that has held too many children back from the outcomes they deserve.
“It’s about creating a better system for all families, where support is needs-led, embedded in every community and wrapped around children at the earliest stage so they can thrive at a school closer to home.
The spokesperson added that the full plans would be released “shortly”.