Shake-up of support for children with special needs and disabilities unveiled

The government has unveiled sweeping plans to reform support for children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) in England's schools.

Under the proposals, the number of pupils receiving an education, health and care plan (EHCP), which sets out the level of help a young person is legally entitled to, will start falling each year from 2030, according to official projections.

Instead, around one in eight SEND children currently on an EHCP will transition to new plans between 2030 and 2035.

While the percentage of pupils with an EHCP is predicted to keep rising until 2029/30, the education department has estimated it will drop to around 4.7% by 2034/35 - down from 5.8% in 2025/26.

Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson said children with the most complex needs would keep their support plans as part of the reforms, which are set to come into force from the end of this decade.

She also insisted the new system would "take away that fight that so many parents" face in accessing support.

Children will also be allowed access to earlier support as part of a £4bn investment in the SEND system in England to make it more inclusive, Ms Phillipson said.

The proposals outline a new system to allow all children with SEND to have access to individual support plans (ISPs).

ISPs will have multiple tiers of support - targeted and targeted plus - and children will not need to have a diagnosis to access these.

The government said the "generational reforms" will see a new legal requirement for schools to create ISPs for all children with SEND, which will be "personalised" by teachers and specialists, and will be "easily available, without a fight".

Speaking at a school in Peterborough, Ms Phillipson said: "Forget the misinformation you might have heard.

"EHCPs for children with the most complex needs will stay, guided by nationally-defined and evidence-based specialist provision packages."

Assessments for the new system will start in September 2029, with no changes to current support before "at least September 2030".

All children moving from an EHCP to an ISP will "retain the right to request a mainstream placement, and no child will move from a special school or college unless they choose to do so," the government said.

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Anna Bird, chair of the Disabled Children's Partnership, said it was "deeply concerned about plans to restrict access to EHCPs to 'most complex needs', while leaving out which children it considers to have complex needs".

Children's commissioner Dame Rachel de Souza mostly welcomed the plans but insisted "no child should fear losing their support", adding she would work with the government and families "to make this a reality".

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