The legally binding support plans for children with additional support needs (ASN) are “in terminal decline”, an academic has warned.

According to Professor Sheila Riddell, an inclusion expert at the University of Edinburgh, the number of children with ASN has “rapidly increased” and yet the number of coordinated support plans (CSPs) has declined. If this worrying trend continues, CSPs, she warned, may “virtually disappear”.

For anyone not familiar with CSPs, they’re the only education documents with legal force in Scotland, and they outline how various services, such as education and health, need to work together to support children with additional needs.

Official figures published last year show that the number of pupils with an ASN rose from 118,034 in 2012 to 199,065 in 2018, an increase of 68.7 per cent. Pupils identified as having an ASN now make up more than 27 per cent of the total pupil population.

Over that same period, the number of pupils who had a CSP decreased from 3,448 to 1,986, a drop from 2.9 per cent of those with an ASN to just 1 per cent.

Professor Riddell said that local authorities argue that they prefer to use other types of plan, such as Child’s Plans, “despite the fact that these are not specifically education documents and have no directly enforceable rights associated with them”.

May Dunsmuir, president of the Health and Education Chamber of the First-tier Tribunal for Scotland (who families can turn to if they believe they’re not getting the right support in schools) echoed her concerns.

“The Child’s Plan is not an education document and is not intended to replace the CSP. Some education authorities are citing the existence of a Child’s Plan as a reason to refuse a request for a CSP,” she said.

“Failure to provide an adequate CSP could amount to a failure to make reasonable adjustments in respect of a child’s education, which amounts to discrimination on the grounds of disability.”