We need to look at SEND in the light of transition to university

The Westminster government’s schools white paper – Every child achieving and thriving – and a parallel consultation – Putting children and young people first – represent a serious (if slow) attempt to fix some of the more glaring problems with provision for young people with special educational needs and disabilities.

Better and earlier diagnosis has helped some children benefit from more clearly articulated support within and around the school system: for some it may be in the form of interventions that keep them within the mainstream school system, while others have found places at specialist schools or alternative forms of provision. Though there are success stories, they are not universal: many parents can tell you about the stresses of securing an education and health care plan (EHCP) or other support, and it can feel like parental administrative literacy (and, frankly, sharp elbows) have been the difference between success and failure for their children.

The growth in diagnoses and a better understanding of what support can be useful has also contributed to the soaring national cost of SEND: for many local authorities it has represented their largest single expenditure line. Some eight in ten councils warned that they risk insolvency as a result of these costs following the end of an “over-ride” (permitted off-balance sheet accounting) in March 2028. A government promise to write off 90 per cent of SEND-related debt will help these budgets, but simply transfer costs to the national accounts.

Clearly something had to give, and without depriving the young people who have fought to get the support they need, or closing the door on others who would benefit, there is a need to find some savings. Much is expected from the “universal offer”, which will build in accessible approaches and “high quality, adaptive teaching” to respond to commonly occurring needs. There’ll be more training, more duties on schools, and even more funding to pay for some of it.

The other proposals in the consultation propose three layers of support for those children needing more than an enhanced level of universal support: targeted, targeted plus, and specialist. The first two refer to provision based mainly in mainstream school at differing levels of intensity, and include an individual support plan (ISP). Specialist support will be based around nationally defined “specialist provision packages” and it will be only children like these who will be entitled to a more wide-ranging (and more expensive) EHCP.

Very few children leaving specialist provision go on to higher education, and even less go to what the government describes as “selective” providers. While there may be many reasons for this, the fact that SEND and EHCP plans do not formally extend into HE (despite nominally lasting until the age of 25) cannot be helping. Young people who have battled through significant challenges to succeed in compulsory education face starting from scratch to explain to a university what will help them learn and thrive in higher education.

There’s never been a good reason for this – it relates to the lack of a consistent learner identifier that extends from school through to higher education, and historically poor communication between schools and higher education regarding individual students. It is the kind of thing that a bit of data-joining magic could very easily accomplish which makes it all the more vexing that DfE appears not to be bothering.

We get, instead, warm words about duties under the 2010 Equalities Act, the Disabled Students’ Commission, the Disabled Students Allowance and “important guidance” from the Office for Students. And this:

We will continue to explore ways to improve how information about a young person’s journey and the support they have received is shared with HE providers, helping to make the transition as seamless and supportive as possible.

Perhaps this could include fixing the wider issues of data sharing between schools and HE, standardising on a learner identifier that follows people through their entire life (it’ll help with the LLE too!), and simply sending current EHCPs to universities when they need them.