EHCPs Are Not the Problem—They Are the Lifeline
The recent article in The i Paper suggesting that dedicated SEND units in mainstream schools could replace EHCPs is a gross oversimplification of an incredibly complex and broken system. At the Neurodiversity Family Hub, we fundamentally agree with the principle that all teachers should be SEND teachers — as stated by the Minister for Children, Families and Wellbeing, Catherine McKinnell. But let’s be clear: that is an ideal, not our current reality.
A Broken System
In a country where around 16.5% of pupils are identified as having Special Educational Needs (according to the latest government figures), it should already be an absolute standard that all teachers are trained and prepared to teach neurodivergent children. But that is not the case. When I trained as a teacher, we received just one week of SEND input — shadowing a SENCO, writing one reflective assignment — and then we were expected to “learn on the job.” Whilst teachers go on CPD courses, these rarely provide the depth of training needed to become true specialists. Most teachers are exhausted, overburdened, and simply trying to get through the mountain of daily tasks required of them.
This results in a failing system - schools frequently fail to identify needs early. They mislabel neurodivergent behaviours as “bad behaviour.” They blame parenting. And whether or not parenting plays a role, the school’s duty is to work through those challenges supportively — not punitively. The medical and health systems, which are supposed to be identifying children early, are also failing.
We’re not blaming teachers. We support teachers. But we know the system is not working — not for them, and certainly not for our children.
Let me be clear: we do not believe EHCPs should be the “golden ticket” children must win just to access their legal right to education. That is not what the law says. But right now, the EHCP is often the only reliable safeguard families have to ensure their child’s needs are identified, supported, and protected.
The Dangers of the Reforms Proposed
So now we’re being told that SEND units in every school will solve these problems? That fewer children will “need” EHCPs because they’ll have access to specialists on-site?
There are so many unanswered questions:
• Who gets access to these units?
• Do children need a diagnosis?
• If access is through early identification, how will we guarantee this happens fairly and consistently?
• What protections are in place for the children currently being sanctioned, excluded, and labelled — without ever being assessed or supported?
• If a child is referred for a diagnosis and must wait three years (as is currently common), how will a school know what support to offer in the meantime?
If access depends on a formal diagnosis, then nothing changes. We’re right back to where we are now: children punished while waiting for assessments, excluded from classrooms, pushed out of schools.
The danger here is that we are sleepwalking into a two-tier education system. One where some children receive the full support and adjustments they need — and others are left to fall through the cracks, still labelled, still punished, still misunderstood. The very system that EHCPs were designed to protect against.
The government has had years to fix this, and yet we are here — with families having to fight for basic support. These reforms are only now being floated because the financial burden has become too visible to ignore, not truly to protect the interests of families. And the rhetoric that is accompanying these reforms, instead of blaming the structures that stripped local authorities of power that they once held, is instead blaming the families and children.
EHCPS remain a lifeline
We must also acknowledge how EHCP’s can and have delivered successful care to neurodivergent children that allows them to re-enter society, living independent and successful lives. In the case of one young person we work with, crucial support from an EHCP enabled her to attend a specialist SEND school where she began to rebuild her self-confidence and regulate her emotions. At 16, she was able to transition to a state college and now at 19 is about to begin a supported internship and is on track to enter paid employment. None of this would be possible without the EHCP which provided access to the right educational setting at the right time.
We will not stand by and watch EHCPs be dismantled on the promise of a system that hasn’t yet proven it works. Not until every school has a SEND unit, not until every cohort has progressed through the system with proper, measurable outcomes — across multiple years — will we even begin to entertain the notion that the EHCP is no longer necessary.
Until then, this is a fight. And we at the Neurodiversity Family Hub will be on the front lines, defending the rights of our children to receive the education they are entitled to, in the way that works best for them — not for budgets, not for league tables, and certainly not for political convenience.
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