Educational attainment amongst children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) has not improved since the introduction of landmark reforms in 2014, despite councils projected to be spending £12 billion on these services by 2026, up from £4 billion a decade ago. These findings come in a major new independent report by Isos Partnership commissioned by the County Councils Network and the Local Government Association, which outlines how councils are struggling to cope with a more than doubling of children on Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCPs) within a system that creates ‘perverse incentives’ to shift responsibility between public bodies and inadvertently creates adversarial relationships between local authorities and parents. With a new government now in place, councils say the need for reform of SEND services is now ‘unavoidable’ with the report setting out a system at breaking point despite families, schools and councils all acting rationally. Councils have called on the new government to set out reform of SEND over the next 18 months, delivering its manifesto pledge to ensure mainstream schools become more inclusive. Click here for more.
