The National Audit Office report on “Support for children and young people with special educational needs”, published today, shows a system in crisis – failing financial and failing to deliver education.
Something like 1.7 million children are recognised as having special educational needs.
Spending on special educational needs has increased 58% to £10.7bn in the last 10 years, 40% of councils are at risk of being declared bankrupt because of overspending in this area.
At the same time parents of children with SEN are disillusioned with a system which operates with glacial slowness (autism diagnoses can take years), with councils routinely obstructing access to Education and Health Care Plans (EHCP) and children left in a limbo of no mainstream schooling but no alternative provision of education.
Parents feel that the current system is overly focussed on attendance at mainstream schools whilst largely ignoring the welfare and education of their children.
Link to the report here.
The BBC’s article on the report is here.
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