Starmer on SEND

The Prime Minister has promised help for North East families trapped in a “battle” to secure educational support for special needs children, writes Local Democracy Reporter, Daniel Holland.

Sir Keir Starmer vowed action to end what one charity has labelled a “postcode lottery” of provision for youngsters with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) during a visit to Newcastle on Thursday.

He told pupils, parents, and teachers at Walbottle Academy that there are “too many children for whom the system doesn’t really work” and that he was “absolutely determined that this Government will fight for them”.

It comes after research from the North East Autism Society showed that families can face drastically different wait times for a child’s Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCP), and higher likelihood of rejection, depending on where they live.

An EHCP is a legal document setting out what support a child will receive to help them through their education and councils are required to issue them within 20 weeks of a request being made.

The North East Autism Society found that annual applications for EHCP needs assessments rose by almost 1,000 across our region between 202 and 2024, while the number issued within the legal limit ranged from 98% in Middlesbrough down to just 9% in Newcastle.

It said that “patchy provision and spiralling local costs have created a postcode lottery” of support for families of SEND children, for of whom are resorting to appeals via mediation or tribunal – leading to higher costs and more delays.

The Government has this week set out SEND reform that will see only children with the most complex needs qualifying for education, health and care plans (EHCPs) by 2035, and the introduction of new individual support plans (ISPs).

Asked what urgent support would be offered to children struggling in the system today, Sir Keir told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: “This is precisely why we need reform, because it is a battle. It is a battle for, usually, individual parents, it is a battle because the resource isn’t there where it is needed, and I think there is a sense that there has to be a better way of providing the resource that is needed to everybody and every child that needs it, which is why we are bringing about  the change. This is moving away from those individual battles of resources to the general provision of support for children – bringing more of it into mainstream schools, not at all of it,  but more of it into mainstream school which leads to better outcomes and allows better support.

“But, crucially, that we put the resource and the training and the backup in before we carry out the necessary changes, so that parents can be assured that no change happens until there is already the improved resources going in.”

In his speech at Walbottle Academy, the Prime Minister spoke about his brother Nick, who had learning disabilities and died in 2024. 

Telling the crowd he wanted SEND children to enter an inclusive society, Sir Keir said that his brother “never really made it back” after being put into a remedial class at school.

Rachael Smurthwaite, a Newcastle-based solicitor for Irwin Mitchell specialising in education, said that rising appeals in EHCP cases were causing tribunals to become more and more backed up.

She said: “Year on year they’re having so many more appeals made against local authority decisions.

“And if parents are having to appeal against a decision to refuse to assess or issue a plan, they can wait up to 54 weeks for a hearing date, and then several weeks later before they’re getting the support in place for their children.”

Colleague Lucy Atherton added: “By the end of that the parents are exhausted, their nerves are shot, and they’ll usually have spent a lot of money.”

School standards minister Georgia Gould said that more expert SEND support for schools would start arriving this year and pledged that the Government would work to improve outcomes for children immediately, rather than waiting for its longer-term reforms to take effect.

She told the LDRS: “To families who today are battling for support, we are taking action straight away. The £3.7 billion we are putting into creating new places, so there are places within their communities that their children can go to school locally. We are really clear that the performance of some local authorities has to improve and we are going to be monitoring that very carefully and putting in strong accountability.”

Newcastle City Council said that the growing demand for EHCPs “presents a growing and significant challenge” and that it had been “working hard to address this issue and are pleased to report there are steady improvements.”