The National Audit Office (NAO) Report, as ordered by the House of Commons, highlights that the current SEND System is not meeting the needs of children and young people (CYP) with SEND. The report is welcome by the NNPCF and much of it echoes what our membership of 153 local Parent Carer Forums have been telling us.
It’s disappointing, but not surprising, to read that since 2019, outcomes for CYP with SEN continue to be inconsistent and the disparities in attainment between CYP with and without SEN when they school after key stage 4 has not been lessened in accordance with the DfE’s ambition.
The report is clear that too many children and young people with SEND are not able to access an inclusive mainstream education. That CYP whose needs should be met through SEN Support, are sadly not being met. This increases the number of families feeling that they need to seek an Education and Health Care plan (EHCP) and request specialist provision in order to meet their CYP needs. Whilst the report focuses on the increased number of EHCPs, the report fails to acknowledge how the reforms in 2014, increased the age from 16 under the old statement system, to age 25 under an EHCP, which naturally would impact on the number of plans within the system, which are documented within this report.
Sadly, for many families the process to get the right support at the right time for their CYP, is dependent on long waits for assessments within health services, for an EHCP to be issued, which is often outside of statutory timescales and long waits for suitable education placements to be secured, that can for many see high travel costs due to a lack of appropriate local provision. Families, as clearly narrated within this report, find the processes adversarial and impacts on their confidence within the system.
Whilst we accept that the DfE under the previous Government have taken steps to address the financial sustainability of the SEND System and improve outcomes for CYP, this report would suggest that these measures have not or will not necessarily make the much-needed changes for families and CYP to feel the impact.
We hope that this report, as with other recent publications, will strengthen the need for robust discussions that are co-produced with all stakeholders to agree a positive way forward to benefit our CYP and families. We hope that the new Government will be bold and make the much-needed changes to ensure an inclusive school system that is both accountable and funded accordingly with the skilled workforce it needs to deliver improved outcomes for our CYP.
Change cannot happen in isolation. The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) also needs to prioritise and resource the system effectively to ensure local health and care systems can support the needs of CYP and their families.
NNPCF suggests that whilst the government must consider its plans to ensure sustainability, the immediate needs of the families of CYP whose needs are not being met must also be clearly considered. SEN Provision must also be a priority in provision planning to ensure that local areas have sufficient mainstream, state special and bespoke provision to meet future demands. Local areas must continue to develop and thrive with so that CYP can be educated within their local communities and enable the much-needed reforms have a lasting impact.
You can find a copy of the report here.