Services in England for children with special needs to be ‘transformed’

Services for children with special educational needs and disabilities (Send) in England are to be “transformed”, with the introduction of new national standards and thousands more specialist school places, ministers have announced.

The long-awaited changes are being introduced to end the postcode lottery that families currently face and ensure that children and young people with Send get “high-quality, early support” wherever they live, the government says.

As part of its Send and alternative provision (AP) improvement plan, the government has identified local authorities in England where 33 new special schools will be built as part of the free school programme to try to ease pressure on special school places.

New national standards will be drawn up so families know what support they should receive, who will provide it and who pays. In addition, the process for assessing children and young people’s needs through education health and care plans (EHCPs) will be standardised and made digital-first.

Many in the sector were underwhelmed by the plan at first sight. Stephen Kingdom, campaign manager for the Disabled Children’s Partnership, said: “Parents have been waiting years for the government to fix the broken Send system, but the reaction of many to today’s plan will be, “Is that it?”.

The government’s Send improvement plan will be published in full on Thursday, almost a year after its Send green paper and consultation, which prompted 6,000 responses, many from families who have struggled to get the support to which their children are legally entitled.

It will give more detail on investment in expanded training for 5,000 early years special educational needs coordinators and 400 educational psychologists, plus the introduction of an apprenticeship for teachers of children with sensory impairments.

“We are pleased to see a focus on workforce, and the plans to standardise EHCPs could be beneficial,” Kingdom said. “But, overall, this plan falls short of the urgent access needed to address the crisis in support for children with Send and their families, which has let down a generation of children.

The Department for Education (DfE) said an additional £30m would be set aside to develop innovative approaches to short breaks to provide respite for families of children with complex needs. It will also fund local areas to develop new services, including play, sports, arts and independent living activities to give parents more time to themselves.

Claire Coutinho, minister for children, families and wellbeing, said: “Parents know that their children only get one shot at education and this can have an enormous impact on their child’s ability to get on with life. Yet for some parents of children with special educational needs and disabilities, getting their child that superb education that everyone deserves can feel like a full-time job.

“The improvement plan that we are publishing today sets out systemic reforms to standards, teacher training and access to specialists as well as thousands of new places at specialist schools so that every child gets the help they need.”

Margaret Mulholland, Send and inclusion specialist at the Association of School and College Leaders, expressed concern about the length of time it will take to implement some of the policies. “More special schools are desperately needed, but will take years to build.

“The promise of additional places in the future will be of no comfort to those missing out right now who have a special school named on their EHCP but who can’t get a place as the relevant school is oversubscribed. Nor will it help the mainstream schools currently struggling to meet the needs of these pupils. We are yet to see anything to suggest the government understands the gravity of the situation and the urgency with which they need to act.”

Linda Cantrill, 53, from Exmouth, in Devon, has eight-year-old twins – Reddington, who has complex needs including hearing and visual impairment and is non-verbal, and Teddy. “All this time and the government is still ignoring disabled children’s needs,” she said.

“Here in Devon we have been the guinea pigs for digitising EHCPs, and it is a disaster. The programme is not user-friendly and confuses professionals, let alone parents. We’ve had other children’s reports on our sons’ EHCPs.

“Who is going to staff the new schools? There is a huge shortage of specialist staff. Children who fall between the gaps will still fall between the gaps. Stuck in alternative provision that bunches them together with untrained staff, they won’t be educated – they will be babysat. I despair.”

The children’s commissioner for England, Rachel de Souza, said: “I am particularly pleased to see this plan’s focus on early help, which will prevent families from reaching breaking point, and the increase in specialist school places so that many more children are able to attend a great school, every day.”

Jo Hutchinson, director for Send and additional needs at the Education Policy Institute, said: “These plans include some important incremental improvements but they fall short of being transformational. The government must set out a detailed assessment of how many additional special school places are required, of what kinds and where, and how its pipeline of new special schools will meet that need.”

The shadow children and early years minister, Helen Hayes, said: “This unambitious plan won’t meet children’s needs or end the scandal of families facing lengthy court battles.”

The Local Government Association, which represents councils – some of which have built up huge deficits in their Send budgets – was also critical.

Louise Gittins, chair of the children and young people board, said the government’s measures “do not go far enough in addressing the fundamental cost and demand issues that result in councils struggling to meet the needs of children with Send”.