Educational attainment amongst children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) has not improved since the introduction of landmark reforms in 2014, despite councils projected to be spending £12 billion on these services by 2026, up from £4 billion a decade ago.
The findings come in a major new independent report by Isos Partnership commissioned by the County Councils Network and the Local Government Association. Based on substantial engagement with councils, schools, health partners, young people and parents, the study concludes that the current system is not working for families, schools and councils alike.
With a new government now in place, councils say the need for reform of SEND services is now ‘unavoidable’ with the report setting out a system at breaking point despite families, schools and councils all acting rationally. Councils have called on the new government to set out reform of SEND over the next 18 months, delivering its manifesto pledge to ensure mainstream schools become more inclusive.
The report outlines how councils are struggling to cope with a more than doubling of children on Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCPs) within a system that creates ‘perverse incentives’ to shift responsibility between public bodies and inadvertently creates adversarial relationships between local authorities and parents. It finds a system weighted down by legal disputes through tribunals and an over-reliance on special schools due to a loss of parental confidence that mainstream schools can meet their children’s needs.
Unless the system is fundamentally reformed, the report warns that outcomes for children and young people with SEND will not improve and the system will become even more financially unviable for councils. The report estimates that local authorities are projected to be spending £12 billion a year on SEND services by 2026, but will still face a £5 billion funding black hole to meet demand that year.
Those deficits are currently being kept off councils’ balance sheets, but if they were to be placed onto their accounts, one in four councils surveyed for the research said that they would cease to be solvent within a year or less: a significant financial cliff edge.
Despite this increase in spending, educational attainment for pupils has not improved, including reading, writing and maths, and at various different ages.
In 2022, the previous government published its ‘SEND Improvement Plan’, designed to reform services and curtail costs. However, eight in 10 research participants surveyed as part of the report stated they disagreed (47 per cent) or strongly disagreed (36 per cent) that the improvement plan would address the fundamental challenges in the system.
Instead, the report argues there is a ‘strong consensus’ for a more radical programme of reform, one focused on meeting the needs of more SEND children in mainstream education. It argues that currently many mainstream schools, early years settings and colleges lack the capacity, resources, and in some cases, the expertise to meet the needs of many SEND children, resulting in more parents seeking ECHPs and an over reliance on special school placements.
The report recommends the new government invests in building capacity in mainstream schools to meet children’s needs, such as therapists, educational psychologists, and wider inclusion support, helping to reduce the reliance on specialist school places. It also recommends resetting the vision and guiding principles of the SEND system towards inclusion, prevention and earlier support which would cater for young people who do not have a statutory plan, with such plans reserved for the most complex cases.
Reforms would also include a new ‘national framework’ for SEND and establishment of ‘Local Inclusion Partnerships’ to enable more effective assessments, commissioning and collaboration between councils, schools and health. This would be supported by the creation of a National Institute for Inclusive Education as an independent arbiter around inclusive education and support for children and young people with additional needs.
Cllr Tim Oliver, CCN Chairman, said:
“The SEND system is broken. Wide-ranging reform in 2014 was well intentioned but a decade on, it has created a system that does not work for councils, schools and parents alike. Parents often feel they struggle to access schools’ services, lack the capacity to support pupils, and councils have seen a doubling in needs over the last ten years, and have amassed deficits that threaten their financial solvency. Most importantly, education outcomes and employment opportunities have not improved for children with SEND.
“As this landmark report shows, the case for reform is unquestionable. With a new government in place and elected on a ‘change’ platform, it is vital that reform happens over the next 18 months. The government should build on this report’s clear recommendations and work with local government to create a system that is sustainable for councils and schools and works better for parents and pupils.”
