A new report has warned that England’s special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) system is becoming unsustainable because of an overdiagnosis of mental health issues.
The Policy Exchange report Out of Control found that one in five children in England is now identified with SEND, while Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCPs) have risen 83% since 2015.
It also revealed that half of all school spending growth since then has gone on SEND, with costs projected to reach £11bn a year by 2024/25.
The think tank argues that current incentives encourage families to pursue diagnoses to access support, stretching schools, councils and health services to ‘breaking point.’
It calls for EHCPs to be reserved for special school pupils, with councils and professionals given more power to manage resources.
Former Chancellor Jeremy Hunt MP described the report as ‘timely and prescient,’ urging a fundamental rethink of how SEND support is delivered.
In a preface to the report Alun Francis OBE, chair of the Social Mobility Commission, said: ‘For too long, SEND has been viewed through a lens of deficit; a system characterised by bureaucratic hurdles, fragmented support, and a focus on what a child cannot do, rather than their potential. It has encouraged families and schools to escalate and entrench needs – rather than empowering the system to meet these more proactively and flexibly. They embark on a journey expecting a positive outcome but find themselves in a disappointing dead end.’
Amelia Canning, policy advisor at the national disability charity Sense, said: 'The suggestion from Policy Exchange to limit EHCPs to children in special schools and make them non-statutory would be disastrous for disabled children. Many of the disabled children with complex needs we support attend mainstream schools, yet depend heavily on specialist provision such as MSI teachers, specialist equipment or teaching assistants.
'Without an EHCP, councils would no longer be obligated to fund these things, which could leave some children isolated and unable to communicate with their teachers or peers.'
