Special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) teams have reportedly been hit disproportionately hard by NHS job cuts, despite being central to delivering reform, a new Institute for Government (IfG) report warns.

Published today, Joining up SEND: How government can make special educational needs and disabilities services more cohesive argues England's SEND system will only improve if central government actively drives the joined-up approach it has called for.

Drawing on research and interviews with more than 50 experts, the IfG report warns that current ambitions for early intervention and inclusion risk repeating the rising costs and poor outcomes that followed previous reforms – unless the Government fixes the system's underlying design.

The study argues that local areas are being told to commit to SEND reform plans while councils and the NHS are still being reorganised around them.

It also finds the Department for Education and the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government have launched separate, ‘uncoordinated attempts’ to align reform programmes.

Recommendations

The recommendations set out in Joining up SEND include:

• the Department for Education making essential policy decisions about its vision for SEND reform

• the DfE establishing a cross-government working group, commissioned by the Prime Minister, to oversee the implementation of SEND reform

• the Government deciding whether SEND reform is a genuine health priority and resourcing or redesigning reforms accordingly while breaking down funding silos.

Comment:

Amber Dellar, report author, said: ‘If SEND reforms are going to succeed, services will have to work together much better than they do today. But when poor collaboration is the norm across England, the problem isn't local – it's the way the system is set up.

‘Ministers are still asking schools, councils and health services to overcome barriers that Whitehall has created. If ministers want a more joined-up system, they need to get off the sidelines and build a system that makes working together easier, not harder.’