The reason there is a huge backlog in applications for an education, health and care plan (EHCP) is threefold (Hundreds of children with special needs wait a year for support in England, 18 February).
First, funding in schools for special education needs and disabilities (Send) is now such that without an EHCP a child cannot be guaranteed any support at all. This means that schools have limited capacity to support children and young people whose families lack the resources (time, money and cultural capital) to get hold of an EHCP. I know of schools, for example, that are no longer able to offer any in-class support for students without a plan. So the families of children with moderate difficulties, who previously could have been supported by the school’s normal resources, are forced to seek an EHCP to get any help at all.
Second, to qualify for a plan, a young person’s needs must be significant, so families must amass, and defend, a huge amount of evidence to successfully apply. This often leads to an exaggeration of the child’s needs – for example, requesting 10 weekly hours of social skills support where in reality two would suffice – in order to trigger funding. This process of acquiring evidence, then appealing when inevitably questioned by the local authority, is breathtakingly inefficient. And the end result, if a plan is eventually approved, is that the young person has a monopoly on the school’s resources, and the cycle continues. But this is currently the only way that parents can ensure their child gets supported at all.
Third, the impact of funding cuts, the cost of living crisis and aftermath of Covid means that families are struggling. We are increasingly encouraged not to point the finger at the government or systems that have failed us, but to pathologise our problems. The challenges faced by children with special needs and their families are very real, but we are also experiencing an epidemic of neurodiversity whose symptoms could also be attributed to external stressors. Families, understandably, seek help any way they can.
The system is rigged against children and families, against schools and against local authorities. Nobody wins, and a lot of children are losing out. Unless you can afford private school, of course, in which case you can buy as much support as you need.
Rebecca Lucas
Cooksbridge, East Sussex
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