What is Send? How EHCP reform could lead to a fresh Labour row
Eligibility is determined through a statutory needs assessment, typically initiated by a local authority. While parents or health professionals may request this, it is increasingly being done by schools.
Securing an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) can be a lengthy and bureaucratic process, and in some cases, families appeal through tribunals to get support.
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Since they were introduced, the number of children on ECHPs has more than doubled to about 600,000, about one in 20 of all pupils. Spending on high needs children has risen by about 60 per cent to £11 billion, with special needs absorbing half of the increase in the overall schools budget. Another £3 billion increase is forecast over the next few years.
Councils warn that the system is pushing them towards financial meltdown and the public accounts committee warned earlier this year that the special educational needs and disabilities (Send) crisis was 'an existential financial risk' for local authorities at was 'failing countless children'.
Although there is evidence that more children are being diagnosed with conditions such as autism, much of the rise in ECHPs is thought to be because it is so hard for parents to get help any other way. Facing battles to get extra help for their children, legally enforceable rights are often the only option.
Schools also have an incentive for pupils to seek ECHPs to apply for thousands of pounds in top-up funding, while councils are thought to be using them to push those with the highest needs into special schools.
Despite all this, there is no clear evidence that educational results for children with special needs have actually improved. Little wonder that ministers describe the system as a 'lose, lose, lose'. An alternative vision, where more preventative help is given earlier, reducing the need for parents to launch an adversarial battle for an EHCP, could improve results all round and, perhaps, save money.
The original argument for welfare reform was that more help earlier for people with disabilities to get jobs could reduce benefits spending. Politics quickly intervened and it appears now the same is rapidly happening with Send reforms.
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There are some clear differences. Although the political timetable may make it look as though the government is turning to disabled children after finding it impossible to take money from disabled adults, in fact ministers have been planning reform to the system for months. The issue has long preoccupied Bridget Phillipson, the education secretary, who is said to be devoting most of her attention to it.
Labour's manifesto explicitly promised reform, saying the system was failing and pledging to improve 'inclusivity and expertise in mainstream schools'. Crucially, unlike in welfare where the Treasury was determined to score billions of pounds in savings to help meet fiscal rules, in Send there is a promise of £760 million upfront to improve early intervention.
For this reason, some MPs are more optimistic about a genuine win-win than a repeat of the welfare debacle. But for others, trust in government has evaporated after the attempt to force through disability cuts. The fact remains that any solution acceptable to the Treasury is likely to see fewer children with costly legal rights. For Labour, the big question after the welfare revolt, is whether it is politically possible to take any entitlements away from any vulnerable groups.
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