Young children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) benefit more from education, health and care (EHC) plans than older children and young adults, a new government survey suggests.

According to the Experiences of Education, Health and Care Plans report, written by Government Social Research and based on a survey of more than 13,000 parents and young people, 84 per cent of parents of a child with SEND under the age of 5 said that an EHC plan had led to their child getting the support they needed. This compared with just 61 per cent of young people aged 16-25 with an EHC plan who said that it had led to them getting sufficient support.

And just over half of those aged 16-25 with an EHC plan (56 per cent) said that it had improved their experience of education.

But 74 per cent of parents of under-5s with a plan said it had improved the child’s experience of education.

EHC plans were introduced in 2014 to give those with learning difficulties a legal entitlement to help. They replaced statements of need as the system for identifying and assessing the needs of children with SEND in England.

In Scotland, the number of pupils with a coordinated support plan - the only plan that legally entitles children and young people to support - fell from 3,617 in 2011 to 2,385 in 2016.