UK Inquiry Tracker

Support for children and young people with special educational needs

Public Accounts Committee Closed Inquiry

Opened: 31 Oct 2024 Closed: 3 Apr 2025 Parliament page

Around 1.9m 0-to-25-year-olds in England were identified as having special educational needs (SEN) in January 2024, with 1.7m at school. Between 2015 and 2024 there was a 140% increase to 576,000 in people of this age group with education, health and care (EHC) plans laying out their legal entitlement to … Read more Around 1.9m 0-to-25-year-olds in England were identified as having special educational needs (SEN) in January 2024, with 1.7m at school. Between 2015 and 2024 there was a 140% increase to 576,000 in people of this age group with education, health and care (EHC) plans laying out their legal entitlement to support. The Department for Education’s (DfE) 2024-25 budget for local authorities’, schools’ and colleges’ spending on educational support for children with higher needs is £10.7bn. In 2020, the Committee found that many of the 1.3 million school-age children in England with SEN were not getting the support they needed, with their education, wellbeing and life chances damaged by failings in provision. The report warned that the DfE did not have a grip on mounting pressure in the system, with joint Ofsted and Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspections finding that 47 of 94 local authority areas had significant weaknesses. The National Audit Office (NAO) reported in 2024 that the SEN system is financially unsustainable without reform. The DfE’s 2024-25 budget has been increased to its current level of £10.7bn by 58% since 2014/15. With an increase in EHC plans, real-terms funding per plan fell by 35%. It also warned that when accounting arrangements stopping deficits impacting local authorities’ financial position end in March 2026, two-fifths of local authorities will be at risk of effectively declaring bankruptcy. The report highlighted a lack of confidence amongst families and children in an SEN system that often falls short of statutory and quality expectations, and is described by the DfE as increasingly adversarial. Based on the NAO report, the Committee will hear from senior DfE officials on subjects including: - Performance of the system; - The overall picture on the support available and outcomes achieved for those with SEN; and - Government action to create a sustainable SEN system and restore confidence. If you have evidence on these issues, please submit it here by 23:59 on 11 November 2024. Please note the Committee is unable to help with individual cases. If you need help with an individual problem you are having, you may wish to contact your constituency MP . Please look at the requirements for written evidence submissions and note that the Committee cannot accept material as evidence that is published elsewhere. Show less

2 Recommendations

8 Conclusions

1 Report

1 Oral session

4 Letters

1 Event

Activity timeline 7 events

19 May
2025

Correspondence

Letter from the Permanent Secretary of the Department for Education relating to the ESFA's policy on publishing investigation outcome repor…

6 May
2025

Report published

Treasury minutes: Government response to the Committee of Public Accounts on the First report from Session 2024-25

15 Jan
2025

Report published

1st Report - Support for children and young people with special educational needs

15 Jan
2025

Correspondence

Letter to the Permanent Secretary of the Department for Education and Department of Health and Social Care relating to the First Report of …

16 Dec
2024

Correspondence

Letter from the Permanent Secretary of the Department for Education relating to the Committee’s oral evidence session on the 18 November 20…

9 Dec
2024

Correspondence

Letter from the Director General, Primary Care and Prevention for the Department of Health and Social Care relating to the oral evidence se…

18 Nov
2024

Oral evidence

Support for children and young people with special educational needs

Oral evidence sessions 1 session

18 Nov 2024

View on parliament.uk

Support for children and young people with special educational needs

Alison Ismail · Department for Education Jonathan Marron · Department for Health and Social Care Juliet Chua CB · Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office Susan Acland-Hood · The Department for Education

Reports 1 report · click to expand

Title	HC No.	Published	Items	Response
1st Report - Support for children and young people with special …	HC 353	15 Jan 2025	10	Response document linked