Education committee chair Robert Halfon MP described the system as ‘a major social injustice’ and called for radical change to end a piecemeal and reactive approach to supporting children with SEND.
The publication of the report follows an 18-month inquiry by the House of Commons Education Select Committee into Government reforms aimed at placing children and young people at the heart of the SEND system.
The committee has conclude that poor implementation of the reforms introduced in 2014 has led to local authorities under pressure, schools struggling to cope and families into crisis.
The committee heard from more than 70 witnesses and received more than 700 submissions of written evidence from young people, parents and carers, charities, schools and colleges, local authorities and the Government.
One charity has described the select committee report as the most ‘damning’ they have ever seen.
Mr Halfon, chair of the Education Committee, said, ‘Despite the good intentions of the reforms, many children with special educational needs and disabilities are being let down day after day. Many parents face a titanic struggle just to try and ensure their child gets access to the right support.
‘Families are often forced to wade through a treacle of bureaucracy, in a system which breeds conflict and despair as parents try to navigate a postcode lottery of provision. A lack of accountability plagues the system as local authorities, social care and health providers too frequently seek to pass the buck rather than take responsibility for providing support.
‘Children and parents should not have to struggle in this way – they should be supported. There needs to be a radical change to inspection, support for parents, and clear consequences for failure to ensure the 2014 Act delivers as the Government intended.’
Report’s key recommendations:
- A more rigorous inspection framework for local authorities, with clear consequences for failure, and a greater focus on SEND in school inspections
- A direct line for parents and schools to appeal directly to the Department for Education where local authorities appear not to be complying with the law.
- Powers for the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman to investigate complaints about schools.
- The development of more employment and training for young people over 16
Mr Halfon added, ‘We need to end this major social injustice, one which affects children and their families, particularly those who are not as well equipped to navigate this bureaucratic maze.
‘Of course, extra funding for SEND announced in the spending round is welcome but the truth is that more cash will fail to make a difference to children with special education needs unless there is a radical change of approach throughout the system.
‘The DfE cannot continue with a piecemeal and reactive approach to supporting children with SEND. Rather than making do with sticking plasters, what is needed is a transformation, a more strategic oversight and fundamental change to ensure a generation of children is no longer let down.’
Funding crisis
Kevin Courtney, joint general secretary of the National Education Union, blamed school funding cuts for damaging the support available for children with SEND.
‘Today’s report is a stark lesson for Government in the consequences of short-termism and buck-passing, ‘ he said. ‘The culture this creates is an incubator for further difficulties in later life.
‘Schools and local authorities want to provide the best possible support for SEND pupils, but the tools needed are generally no longer available due to cuts to local services. Fundamentally it is a question of central funding which has simply not kept up with demand. 93 per cent of local authorities have lost out on SEND funding since 2015 because of Government cuts to special needs provision. The recent announcement of an additional £780 million for SEND is clearly inadequate in the face of a £1.7 billion shortfall.
‘The wider picture is that the real-terms funding crisis in schools and colleges has damaged the support available to SEND pupils. It has resulted in the letting go of teaching assistants and specialist staff. Meanwhile, the number of children with Education Health and Care plans increases.’
Steve Haines, director at the National Deaf Children’s Society, said, ‘This is the most damning select committee report I’ve ever read. Line after line, it shows that the education system for disabled children is completely broken.
‘Parents are forced to become protestors, lawyers and bureaucrats to stand any sort of chance of getting the support their child is legally entitled to.
‘The Government’s root and branch review of the system must end the toxic culture and wanton law-breaking running riot throughout the SEND system and immediately deliver for a generation of disabled children. It’s time to let parents be parents.’
Purnima Tanuku, chief executive of National Day Nurseries Association (NDNA) said the report highlighted the concerns about local authority SEND funding that the early years sector was also experiencing.
‘Given the importance of getting this support right in early years, this vital piece of the jigsaw is surprisingly not covered in the Committee’s report,’ she said.
‘We know early intervention and support can have a huge impact on a child’s long term outcomes, so the Education Select Committee should look specifically at SEND in early years as a matter of urgency.’
Official Government figures published in 2018 showed that since reforms to EHC plans were introduced, the number of under-fives with a plan or a statement has risen by 11.3 per cent, with a 54 per cent increase in those children attending private, voluntary and independent (PVI) nurseries.
’Childcare providers and early years professionals are identifying additional needs early on in children’s lives, but often there are not sufficient services or resources to meet their individual needs and fully support them and their families,’ she said.
‘This is letting children down but also placing providers in the intolerable position of having to try to self-fund what support they can or think twice about whether they can support children with additional needs.’
Nicola Gibson, the Early Years Alliance’s inclusion manager, said the committee was right to highlight the many challenges that the families of children with special educational needs and disabilities face, but was disappointed that the report made little reference to the early years.
’Too many children with SEND are missing out on the high-quality early years provision available to their peers, and this is simply not acceptable,’ she said. ‘Parents of children with SEND need better cross-agency working, more funding directed at early intervention and better, earlier support - recommendations that we would have hoped would appear in the report’s conclusion.’
Angela Rayner MP, Labour’s Shadow Education Secretary, responding to the Education Committee’s calls for special educational needs reforms, said:
‘This devastating report exposes a system on the verge of breakdown. Even a senior Conservative MP is now warning that parents have been ‘let down’ and left ‘in despair’ without the support they and their children need.
‘It is the latest evidence that the most vulnerable children are paying the highest price for this government’s cuts.’
A Department for Education spokesperson said, ‘No child should be held back from reaching their potential, including those with special educational needs.
‘That’s why we recently announced a £780 million increase to local authorities’ high needs funding, boosting the budget by 12 per cent and bringing the total spent on supporting those with the most complex needs to over £7 billion for 2020-21.
‘This report recognises the improvements made to the system over five years ago were the right ones, and put families and children at the heart of the process. But through our review of these reforms, we are focused on making sure they work for every child, in every part of the country.’
