Education Committee launches major enquiry into SEND system

The Education Committee has announced a new major inquiry which will focus on finding solutions to the crisis in special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) provision.

The inquiry will focus on five key aspects: support for children and young people with SEND; the current and future SEND need; the current and future model of provision; finance, funding and capacity of provision; and the accountability and inspection of provision.

Helen Hayes MP, the Education Committee Chair, said the Committee wants to move beyond pointing out the problems and instead focus on finding solutions that are “realistic and practical for the government to implement.”

Education Committee says it will focus on ‘stabalising’ the SEND system

The announcements comes following a recent National Audit Office (NAO) report which found that the soaring demand for support for children with SEND has put the system in a ‘financially unsustainable’ position.

The report revealed there are now 576,000 children with an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) – a 140% increase since 2015 – with most of this increase related to autism; speech, language and communication needs; and social, emotional and mental health needs.

Pressure has been mounting on the Department of Education as a result, with families of children with SEND urging the government to provide more support and councils calling for more funding to ease financial pressures.

The cross-party Committee says it will focus on stabilising the system in the short term, and how to achieve long term sustainability with improved outcomes for children and young people. The inquiry will also:

• Examine every phase of education and development, from the early years through to the age of 25.
• Look at how mainstream schools and other educational settings can be more inclusive to children with SEND by providing high quality support. This includes changes to the curriculum, defining what inclusivity looks like in mainstream settings, and improving support and training for education practitioners.
• Look at increasing capacity of SEND provision, including finding ways to help local councils plan sufficient SEND school places and examining capital investment in this area.
• Examine the Education Health and Care (EHC) Plan system and look for potential alternatives without reducing the level of support available.
• Consider how to make provision more consistent between local authority areas by looking for examples of best practice, particularly in other countries which have better outcomes for children, parents and carers.

Many more councils could face bankruptcy if change doesn’t come soon

Helen Hayes says in recent years, multiple reports have documented the failures of the SEND system, and the Committee will ‘play their part’ by making evidence-based recommendations that the government can implement.

“This crisis has many symptoms that bleed into the rest of the education system: from attrition in the teaching workforce to soaring levels of pupil absence,” she said. “There are also symptoms which blight local councils’ budgets – ever increasing spending on transporting pupils to settings far from where they live, and the chaos of money being poured into tribunals that parents are expected to win. It’s widely accepted that many more councils could face effective bankruptcy if change doesn’t come soon. ”

“There is absolute clarity that as a country we can’t continue with this endless cycle of failure. Turning this ship around will likely take years of careful reform, but the cross-party Education Committee will play our part by making evidence-based recommendations that the government can implement,” she added.

The Education Committee is now accepting written evidence submissions from parents and carers, early years settings, local authorities, voluntary sector organisations, professionals, sector bodies and anyone else with an interest in the system of support for children and young people with SEND.

To submit a piece of written evidence, please visit the Committee’s website.

Lauren Nicolle

Lauren is a qualified journalist who writes primarily across the health and social care sectors. She is passionate about exposing the injustices faced by people with a learning disability, with a particular focus on equal access to healthcare.

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