Since March this year, the government has indicated that it intends to fundamentally alter the legal framework around support for children with special educational needs and disability (SEND). It hasn’t yet made clear what the new framework will look like. But there are clear smoke signals coming from the government that they will restrict access to future education, health and care plans (EHCPs).
An EHCP is a legal document written by educational psychologists for local authorities. The document places a legal obligation on the authority and school to make special provision for pupils with special educational needs or disability. SEND covers a wide spectrum of conditions including learning disabilities, autism and physical disabilities. An EHCP details each child’s individual needs based on their diagnosis. EHCPs allow every disabled child to access the right provision.
Government plans are just cuts
The government’s mooted intention to ‘restructure’ provision for SEND – which in real terms amounts to cuts – couldn’t be more politically disastrous. Aside from the human cost to young people and parents, this decision follows just after Labour’s humiliating climbdown over its proposed welfare reform bill.
The government doesn’t appear to have learned the lessons from the welfare bill fiasco. Details on what exactly will replace EHCPs are sketchy for the moment. Anxious parents won’t know for certain until the government’s white paper is published in October this year, after the start of the next school year.
However, there are strong indicators at the moment that the new system may very well look something like this: EHCPs will only be available for those attending special schools. The rest will (supposedly) have their needs covered by special ‘SEND’ units in schools, effectively mini-special-schools-within-schools.
How the government intends to fund these specialist units is unclear, as they have already ruled out tax rises, and there is currently money attached to EHCPs.
Devastation and uncertainty for parents
These developments will come as devastating news to many parents. EHCPs are a vital support mechanism for parents and children, many of whom are vulnerable and unable to access education without the accommodations they provide.
Currently over 638,000 children have an EHCP in the UK, supporting a wide range of conditions that include autism, learning disabilities, physical disabilities and other conditions, as shown by the government’s own data. Just under 70% of youngsters with an EHCP do not attend a special school, according to the government’s figures. Unless somehow special schools will be radically expanded, this effectively amounts to stripping EHCPs from a significant number of SEND children from vital legal and financial support.
Restricting EHCPs to the most severely in need, in effect creating a hierarchy of need, is a ‘fix-the-child-not-the-problem’ solution which won’t solve the SEND crisis. Everyone seems to agree SEND is expensive but that’s not because of rising diagnosis. Local authority funding has been gutted for 14 years. After a generation of austerity, it’s not surprising the local government is struggling to meet the demand. Legal rights, poverty, disability and PIP.
Restricting the legal right to EHCPs won’t rescue councils from bankruptcy, as almost half of SEND young people are educated in mainstream schools. So they will still need provision, which requires investment. For a SEND parent looking on, it’s hard to escape the conclusion that the government views EHCPs as a nuisance.
Government failing children and parents
The gap between when the government announced its intentions to change EHCPs, and the autumn white paper, has created a limbo which leaves many parents feeling anxious, concerned and worried about the future. A government with elementary political management skills wouldn’t have allowed uncertainty to grow in this way, as that uncertainty erodes confidence in the system.
The Starmer government promised to restore growth to the British economy and thereby return British politics to capitalist realism following a decade of populist disruption. But if that’s the government’s mission, why then choose, as its targets for cuts, two vital mechanisms for getting out of poverty, EHCPs and PIP?
Poverty slows growth outcomes, so why push vulnerable people further into poverty with cuts to disability benefit? More youngsters getting access to education is good for the economy, full stop. More people in jobs means more prosperity, so why restrict access to the support that keeps youngsters in education? It makes no sense. It’s the kind of politics that is a gift to Reform UK Ltd, whose anti-scientific views about SEND mislead the public and stigmatise the vulnerable.
Is a wealth tax the answer?
There is still a chance that the government can see sense. Recent stirring from within the government that they are considering measures such as a wealth tax is good news. It shows that the government might yet pull back from the brink of another political disaster. Increasing wealth tax, corporation tax and income tax to fund Britain’s cash-strapped public services would be a good step. However, Keir Starmer has promised to ‘press ahead’ with proposed changes to EHCP. You don’t have to be a clairvoyant to see the disaster that lies ahead for children, parents, the disabled and the government.
