Commenting as new figures this morning show another big increase in the number of children and young people aged 0-25 with an Education Health and Care Plan (EHCP) setting out the support they are entitled to for additional needs, Paul Whiteman, general secretary at school leaders’ union NAHT, said:

“Education Health and Care Plans are often seen as a ‘golden ticket’ to support for children with special educational needs. (SEND)

“However, the increasing numbers of pupils with additional needs, coupled with shortages of funding and specialist staff, mean that despite their best efforts schools sometimes struggle to provide the level of support outlined.

“Families can face long waits for plans, then often a postcode lottery in support depending on how much funding their local authority offers schools, and the availability of specialist staff like speech and language therapists and educational psychologists amid widespread shortages.

“It has been suggested that the government’s promised reforms of this broken system will see more children with SEND being educated in mainstream settings. This will only stand a chance of working if it is backed by really significant additional investment in core school budgets, specialist staff, and wider health and social care services to enable schools to provide support at an earlier stage, which can be sustained and scaled up wherever necessary.

“Schools and families will need to be confident that support for their children is far more easily accessible without the need for a formal plan, before the incentive to seek an EHCP is reduced.”

The figures show that:

The number of children and young people with an EHCP stood at 638,745 as at January 2025, 10.8% higher than in January 2024.

The number of new plans started during 2024 stood at 97,747, 15.8% higher than in 2023.

The percentage of new plans issued within the 20-week target in 2024 stood at 46.4%, lower than in 2023 when 50.3% were issued within 20 weeks.