Ministers are being warned that if the government’s planned SEND reforms focus on reducing pupils’ legal rights to cut short-term costs they could face the same difficulties they encountered with welfare reform.

The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) published a report today outlining the crisis in the provision for pupils with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) and the options for the government to address this.

The report comes as the government is expected to announce a White Paper including reforms of the SEND system later this year.

The IFS warns that the system of support for SEND is England is broken.

“Costs are spiralling, the quality of provision is patchy, and almost everyone involved - schools, councils, parents and children - is at breaking point,” the report says.

SEND system ‘financially unsustainable’

Luke Sibieta, IFS research fellow and co-author of the briefing, said reform was long overdue: “The system is not financially sustainable and there is almost no way to judge whether the £4 billion increase in funding since 2018 represents value for money.

“Principled reform to address these challenges is needed. But any reforms are likely to generate controversy. If the focus is on reducing legal rights to cut short-term costs, this could easily turn into welfare reforms mark 2.”

He suggested that this can be avoided if the government focuses on “designing a system that works well for children, families, schools and the public finances.”

Tes revealed earlier this year that the government was looking at whether education, health and care plans (EHCPs) are the right way to support pupils with SEND. This sparked widespread concern that the government’s reforms could result in reduced rights for children and young people with SEND.

The IFS describes the rise in the number of children with SEND as “staggering”.

It notes that since 2018 the number of pupils with EHCPs - legal documents guaranteeing tailored support for individuals judged to have the most severe needs - has increased by nearly 80 per cent. The proportion of all pupils who have an EHCP has risen from under 3 per cent to over 5 per cent in that time period.

The report adds: “EHCPs are meant to guarantee help. However, you cannot magic quality into existence by writing it on a legal document. Creating high-quality provision requires system-wide efforts to increase the supply of well-trained staff, structured and planned provision within schools, and a system that can provide support in a flexible and timely way.”

It states that reforms could be costly or controversial, but that doing nothing “is not a cheap or neutral option either”.

According to the projections, spending on SEND without any reform is forecast to rise by £2-3 billion between now and 2028.

Mr Sibieta added: “The previous government never planned to spend an extra £4 billion a year on SEND - it simply drifted into it. If that money had been invested in a coherent transformation of provision, the system would be in far better shape today.”

Rising demand for specialist places

The IFS report says that, given the rising demand for specialist places, one obvious solution is to build more state-funded special schools.

It says this could help to meet demand and cut costs, reducing the need to rely on more expensive independent provision for pupils with EHCPs who cannot access a suitable state school place.

However, it also notes that most pupils with EHCPs today are educated in mainstream schools and that the government has indicated it wants to embed more support in mainstream schools.

The report says that the first step to improving “supply-side capacity in mainstream schools would be better training for teachers and support staff to meet a broad range of needs in the classroom”.

It also says that effective provision requires proper accountability on outcomes and quality.

The report notes that improving accountability for SEND provision will be complicated because there is no clear definition of outcomes and a wide diversity of needs. But it adds: “That is no excuse not to have an open discussion about what provision is seeking to achieve and how to measure it.”

Finally, the IFS report warns that a culture shift is necessary. “If the government is serious about mainstreaming high-needs provision, it will need all schools, teachers and other staff to believe that supporting special educational needs is a core part of their job, and feel supported to do this,” it says.

A DfE spokesperson said: “This government inherited a SEND system left on its knees - which is why we are listening closely to parents as we work to improve experiences and outcomes for all children with SEND, wherever they are in the country. Our starting point will always be improving support for children.

“We are already delivering real change, from a £740 million investment to create more specialist places in mainstream schools and earlier intervention on ADHD, autism and speech and language needs, to joined up support from day one by placing specialist SEND leads in our 1,000 new Best Start Family Hubs.

“Alongside this, we’re putting a further £3.7bn into schools’ budgets this year to ensure all children receive the additional support they need and will set out our full plans in the Schools White Paper.”

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