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Daily Mirror
28-05-2025
- Business
- Daily Mirror
Thousands of youngsters with SEND to get more support in finding work experience
Ministers are driving ahead with efforts to help more youngsters get valuable skills for work amid a shocking one in eight young people not in employment, education or training Thousands of young people with special educational needs will get more support in securing work experience after a £12million funding boost. Some 4,500 people with SEND will get employment experience after the Department for Education today extended the 'supported internships' programme. As part of efforts to help more youngsters get valuable skills for work, 16-24 year olds with an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) will be able to secure a work placement which is supported by a job coach. The job coach provides tailored in-work support to the intern, including checking their understanding of tasks and providing training. They also work with the employer to help them understand the intern's needs and how to approach them. Work experience will include placements in hospitals, supermarkets, banks and more. Minister for School Standards Catherine McKinnell told The Mirror: 'Devastatingly, according to Impetus, young people with SEND are 80% more likely to not be in employment, education or training. "For thousands of young people, this means losing out on opportunities to get on in life, as well as missing out on a sense of community and independence. We're committed to turning this around.' The £12m funding injection for this year alone is far more than £18m previously invested in the programme over the past three years. Half of the funding - £6m - will go towards piloting supported internships in at least 12 local authorities with young people who don't have an EHCP, but who have learning difficulties or disabilities and are furthest from the labour market. It is double the £3m that was committed for the first two years of the pilot. An EHCP is for children and young people aged up to 25 who need more support than is available through special educational needs support. The work experience announcement comes after ministers earlier this week set out plans to train more brickies, carpenters and healthcare support workers by creating 120,000 new career-supporting opportunities. Under the plans, the apprenticeship budget for 2025-26 has for the first time been lifted to more than £3billion - up from last year's £2.73billion. The efforts are part of a drive to get more young people into a job amid a shocking one in eight young people not in employment, education or training. Elsewhere ministers have also today pledged £9.5m in funding for a neurodiversity inclusion programme in schools. The scheme involves training teachers to identify and better meet children's needs. Around 300,000 children, including those with conditions such as autism, ADHD, and dyslexia, will benefit from the programme. Ms McKinnell added: 'The number of young people struggling to secure work opportunities is a clear symptom of a SEND system that isn't supporting children early in life to build the skills they need. 'That's why we're also taking action to make sure that support is there from the very earliest years, so that those who are struggling with everything from speech and language to autism and ADHD, are able to achieve and thrive.'
Yahoo
23-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Specialist teams to tackle post-pandemic school speech therapy backlog
The Government will deploy specialist teams to primary schools to tackle the backlog of children waiting for speech and language therapy since the pandemic. It is hoped earlier targeted support will help those who struggle to talk and understand words before problems escalate. More than 40,000 children had been waiting 12 weeks or more for speech and language therapy as of June 2024, the Department for Education said. A lack of early identification can have a devastating impact on children's social skills, attendance, and academic performance. The Government has backed the Early Language Support for Every Child (Elsec) programme with £3.4 million funding this year, which it said will benefit up to 20,000 more children. Early intervention is particularly important for children with special educational needs and disabilities (Send), as numbers have skyrocketed from 1.3 million in 2020 to 1.67 million in 2024 – with one in four of these children requiring extra help with speech and language. Minister for School Standards Catherine McKinnell said: 'When challenges with speech and language go unnoticed, it can have a devastating impact on children's attainment, attendance, social abilities and future life chances. 'Elsec is turning this around for so many pupils – and particularly those with Send – helping them find their voice and thrive at school and with their friends and family. 'This type of approach is exactly what we want to see in a reformed Send system that delivers the support children need at the earliest stage and restores parents' trust in a system which has let them down for too long.' Steve Jamieson, chief executive of the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists, said: 'We're delighted that the Department for Education and NHS England will fund the Early Language Support for Every Child programme until March 2026. 'It has shown that when speech and language therapists, therapy support workers and education staff work together, they can identify children's needs earlier and put timely support in place.'
