Westminster Life: Sorting out SEND will be a challenge

Just last week I met with Trustees at Family Voice to learn more about the challenges facing parents and children with additional needs.

From the doorstep and community meetings to emails and letters, special educational needs is one of the most important issues that come up.

It is little wonder why. The system is in crisis.

Last month the National Audit Office highlighted the crisis in the SEND system, with very limited progress having been made in making mainstream schools more inclusive in recent years, harming children’s life chances.

I’ve met with Ministers and the chair of the Education Select Committee in recent weeks to highlight the challenges facing SEND in schools.

The current picture is stark. For too long, too many children with additional needs haven’t been getting support early enough, with dire consequences when issues escalate.

In Peterborough alone, there were 2,636 Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCPs) as of March 2024 – a 20 per cent increase on last year (2023) and a 39 per cent increase over five years.

This has an impact on our SEND budget and Home to School Transport.

I am glad that Bridget Phillipson MP, the new Education Secretary, has made fixing SEND a priority but it will take time. The new Government is determined to break down barriers to opportunity for all children and will work closely with local authorities, schools and families to ensure inclusion is at the heart of learning and that all pupils are getting the support they need to achieve and thrive.

Last week the government announced the first stage of its major reforms to SEND with £740mn capital investment to create more specialist places in mainstream schools.

This new funding can be used to adapt classrooms to be more accessible for children with SEND, and to create specialist facilities within mainstream schools that can deliver more intensive support adapted to suit the pupils’ needs.

It will start to pave the way for Labour’s wide-ranging, long-term plans for reform to help more pupils with SEND to have their needs met in mainstream schools.

As well as additional funding, the Government also announced that Professor Karen Guldberg has also been appointed as chairman of a new Neurodivergence Task and Finish Group – a group of experts that will work alongside the Department for Education to drive support for neurodivergent children in mainstream education and increase understanding of inclusion.

This is a major challenge for parents, schools, council and government.

There are no easy answers as the system has become so broken.

But with patience, funding and partnership working we can extend opportunities and start to put right the pressures in the system.