Today the National Audit Office has published a report which finds that families of children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) have lost confidence in a system that falls short and is failing to deliver better outcomes for children.
The report also found that despite funding rising, the system is financially ‘unsustainable’ and in urgent need of reform.
This verdict will surprise no-one who is familiar with the state of services for children with special educational needs and disabilities. It reflects the experiences of thousands of families desperate for help and my own repeated calls for urgent reform.
As Children’s Commissioner, I hear directly from children and their families about their declining confidence in the current system. They are exhausted by its combative nature, which requires them to jump through hoops and too often robs children of years of their childhoods waiting for practical support.
Much of this sentiment was reported just last week in my report on waiting times for assessment and support for children with neurodevelopmental conditions like autism, ADHD and cerebral palsy.
In my report I set out clear solutions to help move towards a child-focused system, led by children’s individual needs, instead of the current system that relies too heavily on getting a diagnosis before support becomes available, thereby supporting families earlier on and preventing crisis. In order to achieve this, there must be:
- Earlier identification of possible neurodevelopmental conditions, and more support in mainstream school including profiling tools being rolled out nationally to prevent overreliance on diagnosis as the silver bullet.
- A national framework for SEN support in nurseries and schools with a move to a needs-led support system in schools and health services, rather than diagnosis-led.
- More appointments to tackle the long waits and a joint workforce strategy that covers education, health and social care.
- A review of children’s routes to diagnosis and post-diagnosis support because too many parents feel left isolated and uninformed, even after diagnosis.
- Better support for families while they await assessment.
Earlier this year in The Big Ambition I called for a set of reforms that must underpin actions to create a government that works for children as well as adults. I want to see:
- A shared government vision for good outcomes for children, and for all services and departments to be held to account for achieving those goals.
- Services that are easy for parents and children to navigate, with each child having a single ‘plan’ that parents can see and use which sets out the support they are entitled to.
- The introduction of a unique childhood identifier so that vital information can be easily shared, and nobody falls through the gaps.
- A clear, long-term funding streams for children, based on the local level of need, and a workforce strategy to address the recruitment and retention challenges across all services working with children.
Now is the time for bold leadership with a focus on joining up education, health and care services, to drive better planning and earlier intervention so that fewer children reach crisis point that requires costly acute care.
Mainstream schools should be equipped to provide all the core services children need, including those with disabilities, and we need a system that responds to a child’s individual needs, instead of one that requires diagnosis to unlock help and support.