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ANDREW HALL, NAHT policy research analyst, shares the findings from our recent survey on supporting children with SEND and how the severe pressure felt by members provides compelling evidence to press the government on the urgent need for more funding.
n April, the education select committee launched an inquiry into the reforms to the special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) system brought about by the Children and Families Act 2014. These changes were intended to simplify and improve support for children and young people with SEND, and offer greater choice for them and their families. The legislation replaced statements and learning disability assessments with education, health and care plans (EHCPs). The inquiry will judge the success of these reforms, and we gave detailed written evidence to the committee in May. In preparation for our submission to the inquiry, we drew on the compelling messages from our members about the reality of supporting children with SEND in the face of the continuing funding crisis. The strength of feeling on the issue was made clear at our annual conference in May, which saw an unprecedented
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Above: Andrew Hall
number of motions passed that spoke to the urgency of the situation. To quantify the experiences behind these calls to action, we conducted an online SEND survey, which was open for three weeks across May and June; we had more than 600 responses, and the results provided us with unambiguous evidence of a system in crisis. One of the reforms being evaluated by the committee is the introduction of EHCPs. Our survey asked a number of questions to gauge whether schools are able to secure timely assessments for individual pupils and the extent to which they believe the plans accurately reflect a child’s needs. We also asked whether there is sufficient funding available to deliver the support included in the plan. Our survey showed evidence that for a significant number of schools, each part of this process is broken.
We found that, when making a referral, 15% of respondents had to wait more than six months for an assessment to be conducted. The SEND code of practice sets out the statutory timeline for an EHCP to be issued as 20 weeks from the point of referral – yet 39% of respondents said they waited more than six months for an EHCP to be produced. Furthermore, less than a third (32%) of respondents told us that a plan generally provides an accurate assessment of the needs of the pupil when produced. When asked how often specialists from health and social care attend relevant meetings