Commenting as new figures this morning show the biggest year-on-year increase in the number of children and young people aged 0-25 with an Education Health and Care Plan (EHCP) since plans were introduced in 2014, Paul Whiteman, general secretary at school leaders’ union NAHT, said:

“The big increases we have seen in the numbers of pupils with special educational needs (SEND), combined with shortages of funding and access to specialists, has put incredible pressure on the system, particularly when it comes to meeting the needs outlined in these plans.

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

“This underlines the importance of the government properly resourcing its SEND reform plans, which envisage support for most pupils being outlined in new school-level individual support plans, more children attending local mainstream schools, and local banks of specialists being created.

“School leaders fear the new investment proposed, while an improvement, will still fall short of what is needed given the additional demands on schools.

"There will also remain a need for better support for pupils with the greatest needs who will continue to have EHCPs and may still need to attend special schools - as well as for sustained investment in wider health and social care services which also have a crucial role to play.”

The figures show that:

The number of children and young people with an EHCP stood at 718,838 as at January 2026, 12.5% higher than in January 2025.

The number of new plans started during 2025 stood at 110,708, 13.3% higher than in 2024.

The percentage of children and young people with EHCPs attending mainstream schools rose by 16.9% to 326,800 – 45.5% of all children and young people with a plan (in 2019 this was 39.2%)