Applications for education, health and care plans (EHCPs) have risen sharply since the government announced its proposals to change the system. Photograph: Don Tonge/Alamy View image in fullscreen Applications for education, health and care plans (EHCPs) have risen sharply since the government announced its proposals to change the system. Photograph: Don Tonge/Alamy Special educational needs English councils warn of ‘catastrophic’ Send debts forecast to hit £10bn by 2028 Surge in EHCP applications poses risk to public finances and may lead to deteriorating levels of support
Prefer the Guardian on Google Councils are warning of potentially “catastrophic” debts, which are forecast to reach a record £10bn over the next 18 months, as a result of rapid growth in demand for special educational needs and disability (Send) support in English schools.
Although the government recently cleared more than £5bn in historic council Send debts, a surge in requests has led to authorities predicting they will have re-accrued that debt figure by April, and doubled it by 2028.
The recent acceleration in applications for education, health and care plans (EHCPs), which mandate support for conditions such as speech and learning difficulties, autism or ADHD, is thought to partly reflect a rush by parents and schools to secure support before the government’s changes to Send provision take effect.
The prospect of council finances being overwhelmed by schools’ Send spending reflects similar concerns in the NHS and the benefit system over the strain the rising prevalence of mental health and neurodevelopmental conditions has put on public services.
The government-commissioned Fonagy report, published last week, found the increase in these conditions was real and a cause of distress to many who have them, but the resulting demand for support would be unsustainable without introducing new ways to manage the pressure on public services.
The County Councils Network (CCN), which published the forecasts on Tuesday, said the overspending was not the fault of councils and called on ministers to guarantee future Send debts run up by local authorities, some of whom would be otherwise left effectively bankrupt as a result of meeting their legal duties.
Linden Kemkaran, the CCN’s Send spokesperson, said: “These deficits have not accumulated because councils have chosen to spend recklessly: they are the result of having to meet rapidly growing statutory demand, which has only intensified this year, without funding keeping pace.
“If councils are left carrying billions of pounds of Send debt, it will not just be a problem for local authorities. Taxpayers and local communities will ultimately bear the consequences as councils face impossible choices about how to protect frontline services while managing debts that have accrued through no fault of their own.
She added: “As well as councils absorbing skyrocketing costs, children and young people will face increasingly long waits for support and educational outcomes will continue to flatline. New ministers now need to provide certainty that they will deliver the full package of reforms needed to ensure the system works much better for young people, schools and councils.”
The government’s reforms aim to gradually replace the current system in England with a more inclusive approach of Send support in mainstream schools that in principle obviates the need for an EHCP. However, parents appear to be rushing to secure formal sup…