Council chiefs are sounding the alarm over a chronic shortage of Educational Psychologists (EPs) that threatens to derail Government plans for inclusive mainstream education.

A report by the Education Policy Institute (EPI), funded by the British Psychological Society, reveals that uneven EP distribution across councils has created a postcode lottery, with pupils in the worst-served areas up to 20 times less likely to receive support than those elsewhere.

The Local Government Association is calling on the Government to urgently set out how it will attract more specialists into the special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) system, warning that without the right workforce, ambitions to integrate SEND provision within mainstream schools cannot be realised.

The EPI estimates that bringing all councils up to adequate staffing levels would require around 1,400 additional full-time EPs — a 40% workforce increase costing an estimated £140m annually — a figure described by the EPI as modest relative to the wider costs of a failing SEND system.

Commenting on the report, Cllr Amanda Hopgood, chair of the Local Government Association’s Children, Young People and Families Committee, said: ‘To integrate the SEND system within mainstream education, it is vital there is a workforce with the right skills that can provide the support children and young people with SEND need, to help improve their educational outcomes.

‘However, as this report highlights, there is a stark shortage of educational psychologists, which could undermine these efforts.

‘We would like to see clarity from Government on how new cohorts of specialists, including educational psychologists and speech and language therapists can be attracted into the education and SEND system.’

Dr Andrea Honess, chair of the British Psychological Society’s Division of Educational and Child Psychology, added: ‘Rising demand, combined with a workforce shortage, has created a combination of pressures that have left gaps in provision and many local authorities struggling to keep up.

‘We must ensure EPs have the capacity to apply their psychological expertise to work with children and families, as well as strategically in educational and community settings. This should start with a named link local authority educational psychologist for all schools, providing services free at the point of delivery.’