Children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) face losing support under major reforms to the sector that could be announced imminently.
Some pupils with education, health and care plans (EHCPs) – legal documents setting out what extra support they are entitled to – could have them withdrawn from 2030, The i Paper has revealed.
Here, we take a look at what we know so far about the planned reforms for the sector:
EHCPs to be reassessed
Between 2030 and 2035, children are expected to transition to the reformed SEND system, where EHCPs may be harder to retain and be reserved for pupils with the greatest needs, under new legislation.
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The i Paper understands that a significant number of children will not be moved off EHCPs from 2030, with sources insisting that only a small proportion will be transferred onto other statutory plans in the first instance.
No child will be asked to leave their school, and they will only be expected to move to the new system when they reach a key transition phase, such as moving from primary to secondary school at the age of 11, or leaving school at 16, it is understood.
The BBC understands that this will sit alongside an extension of legal rights to include all children with SEND through school-led individual support plans (ISPs).
Every child with identified special educational needs, including those who do not currently have an EHCP, will have an ISP drawn up by the school.
This could involve an extra 1.28 million children being given a promise of support, but the exact nature of the legal rights attached to an ISP are not yet clear.
New four-tier system for SEND
squareEDUCATIONExclusiveFour support tiers for SEND children - with EHCPs only for those with greatest need
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A new four-tier system for pupils in mainstream schools, previously revealed by The i Paper, is expected to provide EHCP-level support – such as access to speech and language therapists – to some children without actually needing an EHCP.
Children will also be allocated new “digital passports” that will track their needs throughout their education.
A source close to the reforms said: “If you’ve got an EHCP now, there’ll be no changes to the support received before 2030 and for some children [it] will be 2035.
“If you have an EHCP in 2029 and you just started primary school, you will have that until you change the phase of education.”
They added that plans could be “taken away”, but that it will not happen “immediately”.
It is understood that only children who are in the highest tier of support will be able to access an EHCP, with the new legislation expected to be consulted upon.
Children with mild additional needs – and therefore in the lower tiers – are set to access support that is usually available in mainstream schools via classroom teachers and teaching assistants.
More experts in mainstream schools
Tiers for children with a higher level of need will allow a school to commission extra support via specialists, without needing an EHCP.
These professionals – to be known as “experts at hand” – are expected to be commissioned by councils to work “directly with mainstream settings”, a source close to the reforms said.
The Department for Education has already announced it will spend £200m to give all teachers training to support children with SEND.
Earlier this week, the Government unveiled its ambition for every secondary school to have an “inclusion base”, meaning a space specialising in educating children with additional needs, as part of a £3bn funding package.
The SEND reforms are designed to address the surge in demand for services, which has put a huge financial burden on local authorities.
The Government will spend £5bn to wipe 90 per cent off council SEND deficits in a bid to ease that pressure.
12-week consultation
Parents of children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) face waiting another 12 weeks before knowing exactly how the four-tier reforms will affect them.
It is understood that the Schools White Paper – expected to be published imminently – contains a 100-page paper on broad school reforms and a 150-page consultation document on SEND.
It means that the controversial changes to the legal rights of disabled children, including access to EHCPs, are expected to be under consultation for up to three months.
Profit cap for private SEND schools
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Labour is introducing a profit cap on private schools for children with SEND.
The proposals – which will introduce price bands in a bid to clamp down on spiralling fees for councils – are expected to “legislate to ensure that a reasonable price is paid for a placement”, according to SEND sources.
Private-school placements cost an average of £62,000 per head, which is more than twice the cost of a state-sector place at £24,000.
Some currently charge local authorities as much as £120,000 a year.
A cap would ease financial pressure on cash-strapped local councils, but there are concerns that the move could push some private schools to closure, reducing options for parents and children.
Parents face being blocked from ECHP appeals
squareEDUCATIONExclusiveParents of SEND children face being blocked from EHCP appeals
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SEND parents could see their options to appeal for an EHCP for their children limited under the reforms, The i Paper understands.
Currently, parents rely on an independent national tribunal to secure support for their children if they are dissatisfied with their local authority’s decision over SEND plans.
The SEND tribunal has the power to order councils to carry out EHCP assessments, issue new plans and amend existing ones.
The Government is understood to be considering narrowing the legal scope for appeals, potentially by removing parents’ right to challenge a decision not to assess a child’s needs, or by limiting appeals to whether the correct process was followed.
A source said parents would still be able to appeal via the tribunal, but suggested this could be limited to cases where the council, school or NHS had not followed the correct process.
The latest data shows SEND tribunals find in parents’ favour – against decisions by schools and local authorities – in 99 per cent of cases.
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Teachers will take greater role in assessments
Teachers, not councils, will take a greater role in assessing children with SEND, the Education Secretary previously told The i Paper.
Bridget Phillipson insisted “formal assessment processes” would still take place, but signalled that plans to shift responsibility from local authorities to schools and teachers as she seeks to bring in higher overall standards of support in mainstream schools.
Asked whether assessments would be done by schools or left to local authorities under the new SEND system, she said: “What I would want to see more of is teachers and staff being able to identify and recognise need.”
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