Children with current highest level of Send support set to fall from 2030

Around one in eight children with special educational needs and disabilities (Send) who currently have the highest support will transition to new plans between 2030 and 2035, the Government has estimated, as part of sweeping school reforms.

The proportion of children with Send on the current highest level of support in school is projected to start falling each year from the end of the decade.

While the percentage of pupils with an education, health and care plan (EHCP) – a legal document setting out the support children with Send are entitled to – is predicted to keep rising until 2029/30, the Department for Education (DfE) has estimated it will drop to around 4.7% by 2034/35 from 5.8% currently.

Around one in eight children and young people who currently have an EHCP will move to new support plans between 2030 and 2035 when their needs are reviewed, the DfE estimated.

The projections are set out as part of a raft of reforms to the Send system in England to make it more inclusive, backed by £4 billion funding, in the Schools White Paper, published on Monday.

Making a speech at a school in the East Midlands, Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson said: “Forget the misinformation you might have heard.

“EHCPs for children with the most complex needs will stay, guided by nationally defined and evidence-based specialist provision packages.”

The current system for supporting children with Send “does not work”, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said, insisting he wants the reforms to offer “a better education for every child”.

Currently, parents face long waits to access support for their children and the department said demand for EHCPs has more than doubled since 2014.

Children’s commissioner Dame Rachel de Souza has called on the Government to confirm no child will lose their EHCP.

Children in year three or above currently will keep their EHCP until at least age 16, and those in year two or below will be reassessed when they transition to year seven.

Ms Phillipson said the plans will take children with Send “from sidelined and excluded to seen, heard and included”.

The policy documents propose a new plan with legal footing for all children with Send called individual support plans (ISPs), which have multiple tiers of support – targeted and targeted plus. Children will not need to have a diagnosis to access these.

Children with the most complex needs will still have EHCPs, which will underpin new specialist provision packages.

Assessments for the new system, which will be consulted on for 12 weeks, will start in September 2029 with no changes to current support before “at least September 2030”.

When the new legislation comes into effect, children with EHCPs will be reassessed at the end of their education phase and it will be decided whether they need a specialist provision package. If they do, a new EHCP will be developed.

Regardless of whether they have a new EHCP developed, the child’s school will have a statutory duty to draw up an ISP.

Schools watchdog Ofsted will monitor how schools are implementing ISPs, and where they are not meeting standards it could lead to new school management.

The reforms will also introduce a fast-track route alongside the NHS for a specialist provision package and EHCP for children under five who have been identified as having the most complex needs.

No child with a special school place when the reforms start being introduced in 2029 will lose it, the white paper adds.

The DfE said it wants Send tribunals to be a “last resort”, but parents will still be able to appeal to a tribunal about an EHCP if they have a complaint about a council’s decision not to carry out an assessment of their child’s needs, or about whether their child meets the threshold for a certain type of support.

Challenges to ISPs will be through normal schools and local council complaints procedures.

Outside of Send, the Government had already announced a target to halve the disadvantage gap by the time the generation of children born under this Government finish secondary school.

Over the same time period, the DfE wants children from poorer backgrounds to achieve around a full grade higher in each of their GCSEs than they currently do.

Five former education secretaries have urged Labour MPs to back the Send reform plans.

However, Conservative shadow education secretary Laura Trott has expressed concerns about reports of the reforms, saying she would “oppose any support being withdrawn”.

The number of EHCPs issued has been soaring and stood at 638,745 as of January 2025 for young people aged up to 25, up from 353,995 in 2019, which has led to spiralling costs for councils and large deficits.

Mainstream schools, colleges and early years providers will get £1.6 billion over three years to help them provide support to Send children.

The Government has also announced £1.8 billion over three years to create a bank of specialists in every area such as Send teachers and speech and language therapists that schools can draw from.

They will be able to draw from these regardless of whether a child needing support has an EHCP.

NASUWT general secretary Matt Wrack said the idea that Send provision could be adequately overhauled with “this low level of funding” was “ridiculous”.

The Government announced earlier this month it will write off 90% of the high needs deficits accrued by councils up to this year and will manage Send costs in the overall Government budget from 2028.

The DfE has also already announced it will spend £200 million to give all teachers training in supporting children with Send and £3 billion funding will go towards creating about 50,000 new school places for Send children, some of which will be in mainstream schools.

The Government will consult on reforming how disadvantage funding is allocated to schools in aid of this, with the potential new model proposing to take into account long-term disadvantage and where a child lives.

It also sets a new long-term attendance target, announced two new local programmes to improve outcomes for disadvantaged pupils in the North East and on the coast, introduces incentives for headteachers to work in certain areas, and a commitment to setting out expectations for how schools engage with parents.

The reforms also set out how the Government will achieve its target of 6,500 more teachers and express support for all schools to eventually join trusts.

Maternity pay for teachers will also rise from four to eight weeks from 2027/28.