Public Accounts Committee report highlights critical challenges in the SEN system
On Wednesday, the UK parliament's Public Accounts Committee has released its report ‘Support for children and young people with special educational needs’ highlighting significant challenges in the current SEND system, describing it as at ‘crisis point’, and provided key recommendations for improvement.
David Collingwood, President of the Association of Educational Psychologists said:
"The AEP welcomes today’s Public Accounts Committee report and strongly supports its findings and recommendations. This report highlights critical challenges in the SEN system that educational psychologists have long recognised and the AEP has been working to address.
“This report highlights critical challenges in the SEN system that educational psychologists have long recognised and the AEP has been working to address.
“Ensuring that children and young people with SEN can fully participate in education and wider society is essential for their development and wellbeing, the report’s emphasis on promoting inclusive education and early intervention is a positive step.
“As the report identifies the current system is inconsistent, inequitable and not delivering in line with expectations. We need to improve the universal offer to children and young people and improve provision through SEN support. We welcome the recommendation to identify how to provide support more efficiently and identify needs earlier. Educational psychologists are central to fostering inclusive environments by working collaboratively with schools and communities to remove barriers, promote understanding, and support all children to thrive in inclusive settings.
“We also commend the report’s emphasis on reducing the adversarial nature of the SEN system. No family should feel forced to navigate tribunals or lengthy disputes to secure the support their child needs. By improving local authority decision-making through the analysis of tribunal outcomes and sharing best practice from high-performing areas, we can create a fairer, more transparent system for all.
“Educational psychologists play a vital role in meeting the needs of all children within an inclusive education system. The systemic issues highlighted in this report, such as funding shortfalls and resource pressures, underline the urgency of addressing the national shortage of educational psychologists. The AEP has consistently called for increased recruitment and training of educational psychologists as a critical step in reducing delays in assessments and ensuring that high-quality support reaches children in a timely manner. Without more educational psychologists, the capacity to meet growing demand and deliver the support children and families deserve will remain severely limited.
“Finally, we strongly support the call for a greater focus on early intervention. Educational psychologists are integral to this process, using their expertise to develop schools’ capacity, to identify needs early, implement effective support strategies, and empower schools and families with the tools to support children’s development. Strengthening early intervention reduces long-term demand on the system and ensures better outcomes for children and young people.
“We are ready to work with the Department for Education, local authorities, and other stakeholders to implement these recommendations. We urge the Government to act swiftly to ensure that the findings of this report lead to tangible improvements for children, young people, and their families.”
You can read the report in full by clicking here.
Key findings
- Increased demand versus funding. Over the past decade, there has been a 140% increase in the number of children with Education, Health, and Care (EHC) plans, while funding has only increased by 58%, failing to keep pace with demand.
- Delays in assessments. In 2023, only half of EHC plans were issued within the statutory 20-week period, leading to delays in support for children.
- Parental challenges. Families often face a ‘chaotic and adversarial’ system, with tribunal cases rising. Notably, 98% of tribunal cases in 2023 were found partly or wholly in favour of parents and carers.
- Financial pressure on local authorities. Local authorities are experiencing significant financial deficits due to high-needs spending outstripping funding, with projections indicating a potential total deficit of £4.6 billion by March 2026.
Key recommendations
- Improve timeliness and quality of EHC Plans. The Department for Education (DfE) should take immediate action to ensure that EHC plans are issued within the statutory timeframe and meet quality standards.
- Address variability in SEN support: Investigate and address the reasons for discrepancies in SEN identification and support between schools and local authorities. Share good practices from high-performing areas to improve national consistency.
- Improve support for families. Develop clear guidance and support mechanisms to assist families in navigating the SEN system, reducing the adversarial nature of obtaining necessary support.
- Address financial sustainability. Collaborate with local authorities to develop a sustainable financial model that aligns funding with the increasing demand for SEN services.
- Promote inclusive education. Encourage mainstream schools to become more inclusive by providing adequate resources and training to support children with special educational needs.
- Monitor and evaluate reforms: Establish robust monitoring and evaluation frameworks to assess the effectiveness of implemented reforms and ensure continuous improvement in SEN support.
- Improve data collection. The DfE should urgently improve its data and then use this information to develop a new fully costed plan for improving the SEN system, with concrete actions, and clear interdependencies, alongside metrics to measure outcomes.
- Focus on early intervention: Prioritise early identification of SEN needs to reduce long-term demand on the system and provide schools and early years settings with tools and training for early support.
