Reflections… 10 years on from the Children and Families Act 2014
“We need a change in special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) support” is the message I have been hearing from colleagues as a senior leader in the sector over the last ten years.
At the heart of the challenges lies the cycle of late intervention, low confidence in the system, and lack of resource. But what ‘change’ do we want to achieve, how are we going to get there, and given the upcoming election, what are the main parties saying about their commitments to SEND?
Let’s start with institutions...
A number of local authorities are on the brink of bankruptcy with some children and families waiting years for help. Funding constraints in maintained schools means they are increasingly less able to cope, resulting in local authorities turning to independent settings. The loss of local authority support services, higher thresholds, long waiting times and late interventions have increased cost while unaddressed needs have worsened. Those reliant on the system and those working in it have lost faith.
The number of Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCPs) has rocketed – a rise of 26.6% in 2023 compared with 2022, with requests for assessments rising by 20.8%, as parents / carers try to guarantee legal help and support for their child. But even then, in 2023, only just over 50% of local authorities met the legal requirement of issuing an EHCP within 20 weeks (DfE’s education, health and care plans, reporting year 2024). Concurrently, the collective funding deficit in England for SEND has reached £3.2bn (County Council Network).
There is, of course, much amazing practice out there and fantastic support for those with SEND; however, there is a realisation that we need to improve to ensure the best possible support for those with SEND. There is a clear need to restore trust and confidence in an inclusive education system, whilst ensuring financial sustainability.
It would also be remiss not to mention the impact of the pandemic on the outcomes and support for those with SEND – needs were not able to be identified and met, and barriers to attending school heightened, with a real knock on impact on attendance post-pandemic.
Reforms… reforms…reforms…
The Department for Education has been clear that support and outcomes for those with SEND are too varied across provisions and local authorities.
The aspirational 2014 reforms which form the legal basis for our current SEND system, lacked focus on implementation but did bring about some significant and positive changes – a clear focus on outcomes and requirements, greater multi-agency working and the ‘Local Offer’ amongst them. The best thing to come out of the Children and Families Act, in my opinion, was the focus on the child’s journey from birth through to 25 and ensuring support for learning up to that age.
While the act in 2014 was positive, other education reforms spoke at cross purposes. The introduction of the English Baccalaureate (EBacc) measure in 2010 and new national curriculum for schools triggered a move away from skills, sequential learning and vocational subjects. It was more difficult than ever to be inclusive. Schools were forced to tighten budgets, decreasing the focus on, and curriculum time allocated to, creative and vocational learning. Sound familiar? It could be happening again with the proposed introduction of the Advanced British Standard (ABS) and SEND reform concurrently. Vocational pathways were able to engage SEND learners, providing opportunities in a skilled craft through centre level control of assessment, and more hands-on, practical and personalised learning opportunities. Do we risk making the same mistake twice?
The Government’s SEND and Alternative Provision Improvement Plan was launched in March 2023, a year after the long-awaited SEND review. The green paper and resulting consultation identified three key challenges facing the sector – outcomes for SEND are poor; the system is not a positive experience for families; the system is not delivering value for money. Building on the findings, ‘a national system underpinned by national standards’ was promised, with a vision of creating a society that ensures success in varying forms, along with the support required to get there. The mission is clear and straightforward – children to reach their full potential; trust to be rebuilt with families and; systems to be financially viable.
What will the planned reforms look like…?
The foundations for the planned reforms are evidence-based National Standards. They promise to provide clarity, consistency and confidence to families with prompt access to support with a less combative system. This includes setting out clear expectations for the support that should be available in mainstream settings and improving early identification of needs and intervention. However, won’t this just put more pressure on already very thinly stretched schools?
The reforms promise wide-scale reforms; some of the areas colleagues across the sector consider to be key are:
EHCPs - a new national template, standardised process with greater use of technology, and a tailored list of placements
Staffing - children and young people will have access to highly trained staff, through the introduction of a fully funded, at least in the first year, leadership level SENCO NPQ.
Accountability - new standards within existing law, local inclusion partnerships and area SEND inspections.
Alternative Provisions - wraparound support, full integration within the wider SEND system
Funding - £2.6bn expansion of state provision and high needs funding (HNF) rising to £10.5bn
Will system reform fix SEND? What hasn’t changed?
This isn’t the first SEND reform, so some people are unsurprisingly skeptical.
Let’s go back to that original question: what ‘change’ do we want to achieve, and how are we going to get there?
The 2014 reform radically upped statutory rights and changed process but didn’t necessarily make the link to funding and financial viability for the system, causing a strain to many local authorities. Insufficient funding, an anticipated £1bn local authority deficit to be precise, isn't going to be recovered through efficiencies alone. Instead, we should identify the needs, provide the necessary support to meet said needs, and thereby improve outcomes. Schools need to be better equipped to support SEND; this requires improved services, enhanced support, better training, all underpinned by realistic funding. We need to get back to prioritising the individual. This requires:
Mindset shift: that values all children and their progress and achievements. This needs to permeate across departments, local authorities and educational settings.
Collaborative approach: with integrated thinking across services and a long-term strategy that restores local services, built around parental / carer engagement to tailor individual journeys.
Qualification and curriculum reform: a broader range of qualifications which are recognised in progress measures, valuing diverse skills and contributions.
Catering to the needs of SEND learners is complicated; it needs a joined up approach and thinking. This triangulated approach should be the priority of any incoming government. There needs to be a strategy about how to approach this with the sector when schools are already facing significant challenges. The current reliance on brilliant professionals going above and beyond… pulling out all the stops… relying on the heroic acts, is simply not the solution.
We must not forget that we are currently deep in a recruitment and retention crisis within education – surely this needs fixing first and foremost in order to improve inclusion. The Labour party has highlighted that they want to rapidly increase the number of teachers being recruited; this increased volume also needs to be balanced against securing the skills and experience required to be more inclusive within mainstream settings.
The political parties have generally been rather tight lipped about their specific plans for SEND, with only minimal nods towards any change; maybe this is because there isn’t an obvious solution.
What have the political parties promised to deliver?
The Labour party has promised high quality early education, a ‘modern curriculum’ focused on a ‘community-wide approach, improving inclusivity and expertise in mainstream schools’, along with ensuring that special schools are able to cater to those with complex needs. They have highlighted the need for all schools to co-operate with their local authority on inclusion, admissions and place planning. One must not underestimate the importance of commitments to mainstream policy and the potential impact they could have in building a more inclusive system.
Both the Labour and Liberal Democrats have focused on providing access to mental health professionals in every school. Creating an attendance register and removing barriers to attendance have been prioritised by the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats.
The Liberal Democrats has also promised to “tackle the crisis in special educational needs provision” by establishing a SEND National Body to fund very high needs support and giving local authorities extra funding for EHCP costs as well as the powers to act as Strategic Education Authorities. They also promise to tackle the recruitment crisis, introduce extra tutoring support for every disadvantaged pupil and to invest in early years education, providing extra provision to disadvantaged children aged three and four.
The Conservatives have promised 60,000 more school places and 15 new free schools for children with special educational needs.
In my view, none of these pledges even scratch the surface of what is required, nor are they specifically focused on the entire SEND system. However, wider mainstream policy points such as strategies to reduce child poverty, attendance monitoring and review, and recruitment and training pledges could all positively impact the SEND offer, if properly targeted. The recent Local Government White Paper put forward a drastic proposal for the reform of the SEND statutory framework with a system where needs are met within broader mainstream provisions.
Whatever approach the next government decides to take, we know that the sector will continue to face significant challenge. The wheels keep turning and education providers will keep doing the best for their students.
What can providers do in the meantime?
Providers should ensure that they have developed and embedded arrangements for inclusion, which fulfil their legal and regulatory obligations, with a focus on inclusive curriculum activities and support which address students’ needs, underpinned by robust policies and procedures and a focus on training and development.
At MH&A, our team includes colleagues with deep, technical expertise in SEND and have led institutions through all of these reforms. We have supported education providers to develop and review their SEND provision and create an inclusive curriculum that meets the needs of all learners. While we wait for the next inevitable wave of SEND reform, there is always more we can do to enable students to reach their full potential.