Pupils with special educational needs in mainstream schools risk missing out on promised “expert” support because of “crushing” staff shortages, ministers have been warned.
Schools minister Georgia Gould hailed the “experts at hand” scheme at Labour conference last week.
The service, launched last month with £1.8bn in funding over three years, aims to increase mainstream schools’ access to external support from educational psychologists, speech and language therapists, occupational therapists and specialist teachers.
It is a key plank of the Government’s reforms to the special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) system, which were outlined earlier this year.
But Stacey Booth, national officer for the GMB union, said: “The experts at hand scheme looks good on paper – but a crushing lack of qualified staff is likely to halt it before it’s even begun.”
‘Critical risk’ overstaffing
Councils have also warned officials that workforce challenges for specialist staff could undermine the plans.
In its local SEND reform plan, Hertfordshire County Council described the “absence of a national workforce strategy” as a “critical risk”.
The council warned that existing staff applying for experts at hand roles could lead to staff shortages in other parts of the school system.
Cheshire West and Chester Council warned that a failure to recruit educational psychologists, speech and language therapists and occupational therapists is “very likely” and a “crisis-level” risk.
Other councils raising similar concerns included Staffordshire County Council and Hackney Council.
At least 36 councils have expressed concerns about staffing the experts at hand service, analysis by Schools Week found.
‘Silence’ from councils
Gould told a SEND event at the Labour Party conference that “there’s lots of things that we’re getting on with now… Experts at hand is starting”.
But Jane Harris, chief executive of Speech and Language UK, a SEND charity, said she has not received firm plans from any of the 20 councils they work with.
The charity runs two special schools and had hoped to share their expertise through the experts at hand scheme.
“There’s just been almost silence,” she said. “I’ve heard that from other special schools [too].”
She added councils have not had long to put together plans relating to the scheme, raising concerns it may not be fully “thought-through”.
This means children in mainstream schools aren’t getting the support they need, Harris added.
Schools ‘struggling to access experts’
Margaret Mulholland, a SEND specialist at the Association of School and College Leaders, said she was “concerned” that staff shortages will “limit the impact” of the experts at hand service.
“There is a recognised shortage of specialists already, and schools regularly report difficulty in accessing health and care services,” she said.
For instance, an Education Policy Institute think-tank report in April suggested another 1,400 full-time equivalent education psychologists (EP) were required to fill shortages in nearly 100 council areas.
One area had just one EP for every 9,400 pupils, the report found.
Mulholland said “markedly improved access” to such specialists and support services was “essential if the experts at hand service is to be meaningful in practice across all parts of the country.
“Without this, there is a danger of schools and families having an expectation that specialist local support will be available, without the requisite professionals being there to deliver it.”
Paul Whiteman, general secretary of National Association of Head Teachers, said school staff do their best to “bridge the gaps” when specialists are unavailable.
He said, however, that lengthy waits for support “can have a significant impact on a child’s learning, wellbeing and inclusion in school, while also increasing pressure on school staff who are already working in an overstretched system”.
Support ‘will take time’
Whiteman said ministers faced a big challenge in getting the specialists trained and in place, adding: “School leaders will be understandably frustrated if a programme that has been widely promoted proves difficult to access in practice.
“Too often in the SEND system, the challenge is not a lack of good ideas but a lack of capacity to deliver them. Families and schools need support that is available in reality, not just on paper.”
A Department for Education spokesperson said it was “completely false to suggest our experts at hand rollout is stalling”.
“This is a phased programme over three years, with areas starting delivery just last month and building and expanding their offer over time,” they said.
“We’ve always been clear it will take time for local areas to recruit and grow the specialist workforce needed, which is why we’ve already started investing, building capacity and upskilling now.”
They added that they were investing £1.8bn in the programme to “bring specialist health and education support into mainstream schools so every child with SEND can access the right support locally”.
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