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As the government braces for a backlash over its plans to overhaul special needs education in England, we look at why the system is in such desperate need of reform and what parents are so worried about.
What is special needs education?
It is designed to support children and young people with special educational needs or disabilities (Send) who may otherwise struggle to access the national curriculum at school or study at college.
Provision under the current system was set out in the Children and Families Act 2014, which defines a student up to the age of 25 as having Send if he or she “has a learning difficulty or disability which calls for special education provision to be made for him or her”.
Examples of Send include emotional and behaviour difficulties, autism, attention deficit disorder, communication and mobility difficulties.
Why is the system in England in need of reform?
Parents, campaigners, councils and politicians are in agreement that the current system is failing children and has been for years. Families and campaigners say waiting times for assessment are too long and children’s needs are going unmet, with many pupils out of school because the specialist support they need is unavailable.
Local councils, meanwhile, have built up debts running into hundreds of millions of pounds that have pushed many authorities to the brink of bankruptcy as demand for specialist support has rocketed while the system has long been underfunded. The government says it inherited a system “on its knees”.
Costs are huge. Funding for Send pupils in England increased by £4bn (59%) between 2015 and 2024, taking total funding to £12bn in 2025. However, it is still insufficient to meet demand, hence the government’s desire to overhaul the system.
What are EHCPs and why do they matter?
Education, health and care plans were introduced under the 2014 legislation – replacing the old system of “statements” – and provide Send pupils with a legal entitlement to the specialist educational support they need in order to secure the best possible outcomes across education, health and social care.
A report by the Institute for Fiscal Studies found the number of schoolchildren with EHCPs increased by 180,000 (71%) between 2018 and 2024 to the point where almost 5% of pupils in England now have EHCPs.
They provide for children with the highest needs and local authorities are legally bound to cover the cost of the provision set out in a child’s plan. For families desperate to get their children the support they need, EHCPs provide some statutory certainty in a system that is overstretched and underfunded.
What is the government planning?
We don’t yet have any firm details, and that is part of the problem. The government’s proposals for change are expected to be set out in a schools white paper that is due to be published in October.
What we know so far is that ministers want to build greater inclusion in England’s mainstream schools, so they are able to offer the right expert support to meet children’s special needs.
The government’s hope is that, in meeting more children’s special needs in mainstream, fewer will need to go to specialist schools that are oversubscribed, often independent and as a result extremely expensive.
Why are parents and campaigners concerned?
Although they agree the system is not working and is in urgent need of reform, they are worried that the government’s changes could make things a whole lot worse for children with Send.
From families’ point of view, one of the most concerning proposals the government is understood to be considering, is restricting access to – or even abolishing – EHCPs that more than 600,000 children and young people rely on for individual support.
The education secretary, Bridget Phillipson, questioned over the weekend, failed to reassure anxious parents that EHCPs would be protected and retained within the new system. The most she could offer was that no decisions on EHCPs had yet been made.
