'A bottleneck rather than a safeguard': Wolverhampton MP welcomes shake-up of special-needs education

Sureena Brackenridge, MP for Wolverhampton North East, welcomed government plans to reduce the number of comprehensive care plans for pupils with special needs, saying they had become 'a bottleneck rather than a safeguard'.

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Mrs Brackenridge, former deputy headmistress of Moseley Park School in the city, said proposed government reforms announced this week would focus on children’s needs rather than bureaucracy.

She expected that the Government's White Paper, published on Monday, would lead to billions of pounds being made available to expand special-needs services across England, allowing schools to access experts such as speech-and-language therapists or educational psychologists when needed. 

She said that between 2019 and 2025, the number of pupils on Education and Health Care Plans (EHCPs) had increased by 79.7 per cent. 

EHCPs are legally binding documents for young people with complex special educational needs, outlining specific services that local authorities were obliged to provide.

“EHCPs were introduced to secure legally enforceable support for children with the most complex needs, however, it has evolved into a bottleneck rather than a safeguard," said Mrs Brackenridge.

In Walsall, the number of pupils in receipt of the care plans had risen from 1,200 in 2014 to more than 4,700 today.

"It's clear this system isn’t working, and we need a new approach which focusses on children’s needs, not bureaucracy,” she said.

Mrs Brackenridge is a member of Parliament's education select committee, which found that delays, inconsistent provision, and lack of accountability had damaged trust between families and local authorities. 

"Time and again, parents tell us that navigating the special educational needs system can feel like a battle, they have to fight for the support their children desperately need," she said.