You may have missed Labour’s announcement on special educational needs amid the noise around Peter Mandelson’s arrest, but for local families, this matters far more than the drama in Westminster.
At present, when a child has significant special educational needs, they receive an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP), a legal guarantee of support that sets out what help must be provided by schools, health services and the local authority.
For many parents, securing one is a long and draining process.
Labour say they want to “reform” the system. In practice, that means moving more children into mainstream schools, gradually reducing reliance on EHCPs, and introducing a new tiered structure of support delivered by schools themselves.
On paper, that may sound reasonable. In reality, it shifts even more responsibility onto already stretched classroom teachers, while suggesting that “specialist teams” will somehow be available when needed.
In Hampshire, we already have 18,750 EHCPs, up from 5,000 a decade ago.
Some 6.4 per cent of our school-age children have a plan, above the national average. A further 14.2 per cent receive SEN support.
Yet we remain one of the lowest-funded areas in the country for high needs, receiving £1,198 per pupil compared with a national average of £1,326.
You cannot promise greater inclusion and more expertise without setting out clearly how this will work in real classrooms.
Even the Institute for Fiscal Studies has warned that expanding mainstream capacity while keeping the current EHCP system in place will be costly.
That is simply common sense; you end up funding two systems at the same time.
Labour have still not explained how they will close their £6 billion SEND funding gap.
Parents are being asked to place their faith in a White Paper built on broad principles, new tiers and multiple support packages, yet it leaves families uncertain about who qualifies and what help they will actually receive.
Families deserve clarity. They need firm assurances that children with EHCPs will not quietly lose protections.
And teachers deserve honesty about the additional pressures this will bring.
In Hampshire, we are expanding specialist places and investing in provision that keeps children closer to home.
Real change would simplify the system and strengthen support for families.
What families need is a SEND system that works in practice, not just on paper.
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