The number of pupils in England issued with a special needs support plan has more than doubled in the last eight years to 180 a day, driving up deficits in local authority budgets to “unmanageable levels”, according to analysis.
A record half a million pupils have an education, health and care plan (EHCP), a legal document setting out a child or young person’s special educational needs, the support they need, and the outcomes they would like to achieve.
Councils say government changes unveiled earlier this year to address the growing crisis in the special educational needs and disabilities (Send) system will do nothing to “stem the tide of demand” that is busting their budgets. Lawyers, meanwhile, say too many children are still not receiving the specialist support to which they are entitled.
With thousands of young people approaching councils for specialist support, the number of pupils on EHCPs in England stands at 517,026 – more than double the total in 2015 (240,183), according to analysis by the County Councils Network (CCN), which represents 20 county councils and 17 unitary councils.
Last year, 66,356 children and young people started new EHCP plans – the largest ever number – according to the CCN, which equates to an average of 182 children each day. The child’s school is required to pay the first £6,000 in support, with the local authority financing the rest, which can be extremely costly.
Last year the deficit accrued in local authority Send budgets stood at £2.4bn, with councils in county areas accounting for half of this. Left unchecked, the national deficit for all 152 councils in England is expected to rise to £3.6bn, the CCN says.
The government’s long-awaited Send improvement plan, published in March, sets out new national standards to clarify the support available to children and their families and promises thousands more specialist school places.
Ministers are also working with individual councils as part of its “safety valve” programme, providing funding to reduce deficits while implementing Send changes locally. Council leaders say, however, the proposals still do not address core demand and cost issues within the system
Cllr Liz Brighouse, CCN spokesperson for Send, said: “Despite the government’s reforms package for Send services outlining some important changes which are beginning to be implemented, demand has continued to rise sharply, with councils under extreme pressure to ensure every child gets the support they need, with 182 EHCPs starting each day on average in last year compared with less than half that number in 2015.
“We remain concerned that these reforms will not stem the tide of demand that local authorities are facing, and whilst the legislative changes in 2014 were right in that they expanded eligibility and raised parental expectations, councils have increasingly been left to pick up the bill, which has increased their deficits to unmanageable levels.
“Action is needed urgently to address this, and we are calling on government to fully fund these reforms and ensure that councils do not continue to accrue significant deficits that would be impossible to pay down without insolvency.”
Catriona Moore, policy manager at Send legal advice charity Ipsea, said too many pupils with Send did not receive the support they needed and to which they were entitled. “It’s problematic to talk about ‘demand’ for special educational provision and support for children who need it,” she said.
“The law is clear that children and young people with Send have the right to receive support that meets their needs and enables them to receive an education. The issue isn’t that too many children and young people with Send are receiving costly provision that they don’t need, but that too many aren’t receiving the support they do need.
“The government’s Send improvement plan promises transformation but is not transformative. The key to resolving the Send crisis lies in making sure that local authorities fulfil their statutory duties to children and young people, and that schools and colleges become genuinely inclusive.”
A Department for Education spokesperson said: “Our special educational needs and disabilities and alternative provision improvement plan, published earlier this year, committed to a wide range of actions to make sure education, health and care plans are available in a timely way for those who need them.
“We’re creating bespoke plans with almost half of all local authorities to improve their Send services, building new special schools where they are needed, cutting bureaucracy in the education, health and care plan process, and improving mediation for when families disagree with a local authority decision.”
