Latest news with #EHCP
BBC News
5 days ago
- General
- BBC News
More Stoke-on-Trent SEND children to stay in mainstream schools
More children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) will be supported to stay in mainstream schools as part of a council's plan to bring down City Council is facing a £22.4m deficit against its dedicated schools grant (DSG) – ring-fenced funding from the government to help with education -related services.A report to the authority's cabinet said the deficit was expected to increase to £38.8m by the end of 2025/26, caused by a rapid rise in children with Stoke-on-Trent, youngsters who needed education, heath and care plans (EHCPs) went from 2,390 in 2021 to 3,472 in 2025. Many of those go to costly private schools, the report said, with just 34% attending mainstream education, compared to the national average of 40%.During a meeting on Tuesday, the council's cabinet agreed to divert some SEND funding to schools with the aim of helping support children within mainstream education, without the need for an EHCP. Councillor Sarah Jane Colclough, cabinet member for children's services, said many authorities in England faced similar deficits as a result of a growing numbers of children with said the authority's plan would "enable better outcomes for children" and allow them to remain at mainstream schools in their area."Parents and carers will get the confidence that their children will be getting their needs met locally, collaboratively by the best educational setting in their community," she city council will launch a pilot scheme for the new funding model in September. This news was gathered by the Local Democracy Reporting Service which covers councils and other public service organisations. Follow BBC Stoke & Staffordshire on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.
Daily Mirror
5 days ago
- Health
- Daily Mirror
'We had to beg to get safe education for our autistic daughter'
Four-year-old Eloise has complex needs and a rare safeguarding condition, but was refused specialist education for over a year Singer Emma King and videographer Ritch Spence have emerged victorious after nearly two years of battling with the local authority in Hull over their daughter's educational needs. Their daughter, Eloise, will be starting specialist education in the new school year but the family has chosen to share their experience out of concern for those who may not be as familiar with the legal system. Emma told PA: "We were forced to beg – not for special treatment, just for safety. It felt like they were trying to wear us down." Ritch added: "We had some family members we could chat to, we both know how to write a letter, we both have experience with legal processes from various bits of life and we thought, if this is overwhelming for us, imagine how a young person, a single parent, or someone whose first language isn't English would feel." Eloise didn't walk until she was 18 months, didn't make eye contact and is "entirely non-speaking", which led the parents to seek an autism assessment after ruling out hearing issues. The couple first applied for an education, health and care plan (EHCP) shortly after Eloise was diagnosed with autism just after her second birthday in 2023. The four year old's complex needs include sensory processing difficulties, non-verbal communication and a condition called pica. Pica prompts the young girl to attempt eating non-food items such as scissors or stones, or even her own excrement if left unattended while using the toilet. Emma stated: "She needs to have a one-to-one for her safety, I thought pica alone would be enough to warrant it. You have to be so fast with Eloise, anything that is in her hands she could try to eat." The couple claim the council missed the legal deadline to respond to the EHCP paperwork they submitted. After following up, they were informed Eloise wouldn't be assessed and were advised to arrange independent mediation. This decision was ultimately reversed just before the mediation date. The council agreed to assess Eloise but in the meantime, she had to be placed in a mainstream nursery for just five hours a week as she was only entitled to emergency early years support. However, the nursery couldn't provide one-to-one support without an EHCP in place and the lack of assistance was "overwhelming" for the toddler. Ritch said: "At pick-up, we would often find that she'd be spinning in a corner." Even after agreeing to assess Eloise, the process didn't pick up speed as Emma recalled: "I had to have a phone call and literally beg (the council) to please see Eloise." Finally, in February 2025 the EHCP was issued stating that Eloise would attend mainstream school. Ritch said: "We couldn't believe that it said she would attend the mainstream setting – we were, like, head exploding, really." The pair launched a tribunal appeal and spent hours compiling the evidence bundle themselves. By May, the duo hadn't heard anything but discovered the council had responded to the tribunal "but didn't include us". When Emma and Ritch were brought into the loop, the council confirmed it had reversed its decision and Eloise was offered a place at a local specialist school which supports pupils through primary and secondary education. She will start in September, two years after her parents began the EHCP process. Emma added: "This is what Eloise should have had from the beginning, it shouldn't be something that we are celebrating. "She can't thrive under conditions that are not right for her, but by placing her somewhere where the conditions are correct, I feel she will thrive and come on in her own way. To feel like she belongs somewhere, I think she finally will sense that." The turbulent experience inspired the duo to create Emma's latest album, Pocket Full of Sun. One track was penned about the EHCP application process specifically while some lyrics reflect the impact of sensory processing difficulties that Eloise and many others like her experience. The album will be launched in August, and the duo are hopeful it will strike a chord with fellow parent carers. Emma said: "We just want people to listen to the music and not feel alone."
Yahoo
22-07-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
What are education and health care plans and why are parents worried about them being scrapped?
For children in England with special educational needs and disabilities, an education and health care plan (EHCP) is a central pillar of support. The government is due to set out its educational strategy for children with special educational needs and disabilities in the autumn, though, and has not ruled out scrapping ECHPs. Their removal would signal radical change in how the system works in England. ECHPs are individualised plans that set out the needs of a particular child and the support they should receive – from education, health services and social care – in order have the best opportunity to thrive. But demand for ECHPs is soaring and providing support is proving financially catastrophic for local authorities. One of the criticisms of EHCPs is that they prioritise providing children with individual models of support, rather than developing inclusive cultures within schools and within the broader education system. Education secretary Bridget Phillipson has outlined a vision of building a system where more children with special educational needs and disabilities can attend mainstream schools. But removing ECHPs leads to the possibility of children who need more specialist support missing out. Get your news from actual experts, straight to your inbox. Sign up to our daily newsletter to receive all The Conversation UK's latest coverage of news and research, from politics and business to the arts and sciences. To secure an ECHP, local authorities carry out a statutory assessment to determine whether a child's needs warrant additional support. An assessment does not always lead to an EHCP, but if one is issued, it must outline how the child's needs will be met and the additional resources needed to do so. These resources might include funding to provide a child with a teaching assistant, funding for equipment and transport to school, or funding to go to a specialist school. This system of support helps school leaders ensure that children and young people have the right support, at the right time. According to a report published earlier this year, the demand for EHCPs has risen by 140% since 2015. Recent data shows that there are 482,640 children and young people in England with an EHCP. Many more children have special educational needs, but do not have an ECHP. These pupils are classed as receiving special educational needs support. The percentage of pupils with an EHCP has increased to 5.3%, from 4.8% in 2024. The percentage of pupils with special educational needs support has increased to 14.2%, from 13.6% in 2024. Despite government investment of £10.7 billion to local authorities in 2024-25, a House of Commons committee report outlines that long waiting times for assessments, as well as to access support such as speech and language therapy, has led to parents losing confidence in the system. Funding is allocated to each local authority from central government to fund provision in their areas. It is for local authorities, in consultation with their schools, to determine the individual allocation to schools. However, local authorities are struggling to meet the increased demand for EHCPs. Even when funding is allocated through EHCPs, it is not always sufficient to address the needs of those with complex needs. And funding is not sufficient to meet demand. Local authorities have accumulated huge deficits due to spending exceeding funding, placing some at risk of going bankrupt. Future plans Bridget Phillipson has refused to be drawn on whether EHCPs will be axed. 'What I can say very clearly,' she has said, 'is that we will strengthen and put in place better support for children.' Building more inclusive schools is obviously one way of achieving this vision. If scrapping EHCPs means less funding for children for special educational needs and disabilities, though, this cannot be the answer. Children need more support, not less, to enable them to thrive. The solution is for the government to work out what models of inclusion work well in mainstream schools and to decide how these can be resourced and evaluated. Clarity is also needed on inclusion in mainstream schools can be measured in order to assess whether it is working. Making more support in mainstream schools work also requires an adequate supply of knowledgeable, well-trained teachers. The government is prioritising this through revision to initial teacher education courses, with an emphasis on all teachers being teachers of special educational needs. If the government doesn't get this right, the result may be poorer educational and long-term outcomes for pupils with special educational needs and disabilities. It may also lead to issues with teacher recruitment and retention in mainstream schools, particularly if teachers feel that they do not have the level of support in place that they need to meet the needs of their pupils. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article. Jonathan Glazzard does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
Telegraph
17-07-2025
- General
- Telegraph
Blaming the parents is easier than fixing Britain's special educational needs system
Many parents of children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) are likely to be too busy fighting the broken education system to notice they are actually being blamed for it. Their lives are spent constantly having to fight to get what most children and families take for granted – the education their child needs and deserves. For all the talk of parents trying to get special treatment, or a 'golden ticket' for their children, research from the National Autistic Society shows a quarter of parents (26 per cent) waited over three years to receive support for their child. Even after this, nearly three quarters (74 per cent) said their child's school place did not meet their needs. Our SEND system is supposed to provide children with the support they need. But over the last decade and a half, the funding and staff time for mainstream schools to make small changes or bring in support, without needing additional funding through an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP), has been systematically stripped from the system. When children's needs aren't met, they don't go away, they escalate. The result is that children are pushed ever closer to the brink and then require more intensive support. Getting help in school shouldn't require a child to have a clinical diagnosis. Yet, say that to any parent of a child with SEND and they would rightly laugh in your face, as they often face unlawful refusals from councils to even look at their child's needs until they have a diagnosis. Then the statistics get even more galling. Currently 224,382 people are waiting for an autism assessment in England – that's around the population of Portsmouth. The average waiting time for an assessment is 14 months, with many people waiting even longer. Recently, a woman in Oxford was told she would have to wait 16-18 years. Once a child has a diagnosis, it's far from a 'golden ticket', as so often claimed. Parents of autistic children have to fight, some having to remortgage their house or take out loans, to afford the expensive legal battles that overwhelmingly find in their favour. £60 million of public money was wasted sending families to the independent SEND Tribunal in 2021-22 to enforce their child's legal rights, while 99 per cent of cases in 2023-24 found in favour of parents. If you're looking for real waste in the SEND system, this is a staggering example. To fix the SEND system, support must meet children's needs early on. Imagine how much more our education system, and the children in it, could achieve if we didn't ignore and belittle children that need support. How much more prepared for adult life and all its trials and tribulations a child could be, armed with the knowledge of their autistic identity, rather than being sneered at for 'chasing' a 'label'. How many more families could live in financial security without having to give up work if the system had the resources to approach their requests with options, rather than a closed door. How many more disabled children could walk happily with their brothers and sisters to school, rather than having to rely on school transport for journeys miles and miles away from home. It's right that the Government tries to fix this broken system. It's clear though that any reform should focus on strengthening children's rights to early and less intensive support and making sure teachers are equipped with the knowledge and tools to support kids in their classrooms. Put quite simply: EHCPs aren't the problem in the system. Nor is school transport. The problem is that the system legally responsible for supporting our nation's disabled children is not resourced or equipped to do that. That's why the National Autistic Society will campaign as part of the Disabled Children's Partnership – a coalition of 130 organisations from national charities to grass root parent groups – to get the right reforms from the Government. Families don't want anything 'special', they just want the same thing as other families – the education their children need. Now is the time to get this right, not blame parents and take away children's futures.
Gulf Today
16-07-2025
- Politics
- Gulf Today
Before a rethink of special educational needs, lessons must be learnt
Whatever else may be said about the government's plans for the education of children with special needs, they cannot be handled in the same, calamitous way as were the reforms to personal independence payments (PIP). As has been said with enormous force during the low-key commemoration of Labour's first year in office, lessons must be learnt. The education secretary, Bridget Phillipson, is the lead minister in preparing the schools white paper in October, which will include proposals for changes to the special needs framework. She has already caused some concern by refusing to rule out changing the system of education, health and care plans (EHCPs), and the rights groups and backbench MPs in her party have mobilised in response, according to The Independent. In fairness, Ms Phillipson and her colleagues have talked about changes to EHCPs in the past. However, the recent welfare reform bill fiasco has both sharpened anxieties and bolstered the confidence of Labour backbenchers that they can defy the party leadership and block reform. The Labour general election manifesto was also oblique on this point. An element of fear, if not paranoia, has entered the debate, and Ms Phillipson's task has been much more difficult because of the mistakes made by her colleagues – Rachel Reeves as chancellor, Liz Kendall as work and pensions secretary, and the prime minister, Sir Keir Starmer. Ms Phillipson is one of the brighter stars in the Labour firmament, but she will be fortunate if she emerges from this process with an improved EHCP regime or her reputation enhanced. Trust has been eroded. For any government of any party, reforming the special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) provision for children and young people presents particular challenges, and rightly so. These are among the most vulnerable of people, and they cannot be subject to discriminatory treatment, both as a matter of law and of morality. As a society, there is a duty to provide for children and young people with physical and learning disabilities, and to offer them the best start in life, maximising their independence and life chances. Their parents need and deserve support, and any failure to do so is unconscionable. In contrast to the PIP reforms, there must be no feeling that reform is solely or even primarily driven by the Treasury and the need for savings, though there is no escaping the financial realities. As Ms Reeves and Ms Kendall discovered to their cost, there are red lines that this generation of Labour MPs will not cross solely for the sake of meeting fiscal rules. Ms Phillipson, therefore, must win the arguments – and, as far as possible, carry all those concerned with her as she reshapes the regime and improves it. Therefore, the various groups representing SEND children and parents need to be closely involved in each stage of policy development. This is something she is now well placed to do, given recent events. In any case, because of what happened with PIP entitlements, she has no alternative. The parliamentary Labour Party, emboldened as it now is, will insist on being consulted. When the time comes to publish the white paper, there should be no nasty surprises. If there are, it will be just as doomed as the welfare reform bill. Secondly, this process cannot be rushed, or perceived to be rushed. The deadline of October for the schools white paper is a reasonable one but it should not take precedence over good policy. If the sections on SEND are not ready to be published, then they should be postponed. Indeed, there is a strong case for giving SEND policy a comprehensive study and white paper of its own, given the sensitivities and complexities involved. Again, the lesson of recent events is that a late policy is preferable to a bad policy. There is also a real need for a better understanding – entirely separate from the cost – of the merits of special schools or children's inclusion in the general school system, which will, of course, vary by individual cases. It is also wrong, as seems to be the case now, that variations in provision across different local authorities can be so stark – a postcode lottery.
