Children with special educational needs to face review of right to support on move to secondary school: reports

According to the BBC, children with Education Health and Care Plans (EHCPs) will be reassessed after primary school from 2029, as part of a wider overhaul of the system.

The plans could be revealed as early as Monday, when the School’s White Paper is expected to be published.

In October last year, the Department for Education confirmed it was to delay setting out reforms to special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) services until “early in the New Year". This was met with criticism from County Councils Network and the Local Government Association, who described reform as “urgent”.

In six years, council spending on SEND provision has increased 58.5% in real terms – equivalent to over £5 billion in additional spending, according to a recent report by the Policy Exchange.

In an attempt to control spiralling costs, sources suggest that under new Government plans, some pupils with less serious and complex needs will no longer be deemed eligible for EHCPs.

A report in The Times claimed: “The documents, which detail children's legal rights to special needs support, will be available only to those placed in the highest of three tiers for support in schools.

“Children with lower-level needs will instead be given ‘individual support plans’ and categorised as ‘targeted’ or ‘targeted plus’. Their report will be decided on and provided by schools."

In recent months, ministers have highlighted their intention to push for more children's SEND needs to be met in mainstream schools – noting that work is “already underway” to reform the system including through investing £200 million to train all teachers on SEND.

Lottie Winson