Government ‘failed’ children with special educational needs in pandemic, inquiry by MPs finds
Report should be ‘wake-up call’ to ministers, union leader says
Children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) have been “failed” by the government during the coronavirus pandemic, an inquiry by MPs has found.
Schools and families were forced to “pick up the pieces” due to a lack of government support, the cross-party group found.
Their report, which looked at the experiences of children and young people with SEND in educational settings during the pandemic, said these pupils and their families felt “forgotten, left-behind and overlooked” over the past year.
During national lockdowns over coronavirus, SEND children with an education, health and care (EHC) plan - provided to those with more complex needs - were allowed to carry on attending school as vulnerable children in England.
This amounts to around one quarter of children with special educational needs in the country, according to the latest available government data from January 2020.
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“The manner and speed in which the lockdown and closure of school happened had a negative impact on children and young people with SEND and their families,” the report by the all-party parliamentary group for SEND said.
“Many were left without support.”
Young people with SEND were made to feel like an “afterthought” after guidance for special schools and alternative provision was published later than guidance for mainstream school, the MPs said.
The inquiry heard from vulnerable children refused attendance in schools, even though they did not have support they needed available at home.
It also heard evidence of support staff not allowed onto school sites due to coronavirus restrictions, and parents left out of decisions and risk assessments’ about their children’s education.
“We have been very isolated. The initial lockdown was very confusing to our children and now restrictions have been eased and they are expected to return to school without any support regarding transition,” one parent told the inquiry.
“Their worlds were already very confusing before coronavirus and are even more so.”
Olivia Blake, the Labour MP who chairs the all party parliamentary group, said: “For the past year, young people with SEND, their families and education settings have often been treated as an afterthought when they should have been at the fore of the government’s response to the pandemic.”
She said many submissions to the inquiry were “raw and anxious” and reflected “longstanding problems that have been magnified by the Covid crisis”.
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Geoff Barton from the Association for School and College Leaders (ASCL)told The Independent: “The government should have put a much greater focus on understanding the complex and challenging situation facing children with a wide range of special educational needs and disabilities during the pandemic lockdowns, and then ensuring that there was sufficient support and guidance in place.”
“Instead, it left schools having to do the best they could in an extraordinarily difficult situation, and while they have made every possible effort to support these young people, the circumstances have obviously been very challenging,” he said.
Paul Whiteman from the school leaders’ union NAHT said the report should be a “wake-up call” for the government.
“A decade of underfunding and an ongoing failure by the government to properly get to grips with systemic failings has been exposed by the pandemic,” the union’s general secretary said.
The report made nine key recommendations, including extra funding for support for SEND children and mental health support.
The inquiry found the mental health of young people with SEND and their families has been widely impacted by the coronavirus pandemic, with frequent reports of increased anxiety.
It also recommended an urgent parliamentary review assessing the impact of Covid-19 on children with SEND and called on the education secretary to commit to working with the cross-party group to make sure these pupils are at the heart of government policies.
It follows a report earlier this month which found the coronavirus pandemic was likely to have exacerbated existing problems with identifying children with special educational needs and disabilities.
Increasing numbers of vulnerable pupils are likely to have missed out on special needs support as a result of months of remote education and growing delays in the system, the Education Policy Institute think-tank said.
A Department for Education (DfE) spokesperson said: “We know the impact of the pandemic may be greatest on vulnerable children and young people, including those with education health and care plans, which is why we kept schools open to them during restrictions, and why getting every pupil back in full-time education has been our priority.”
High needs funding has risen by nearly a quarter to £8bn in 2021-22 and the DfE is supporting local authorities and partners to improve SEND services for those with EHC plans, they added.
“This includes the programme of inspections and interim visits by Ofsted and the CQC to check the quality of provision as well as direct support and challenge to individual areas,” the DfE spokesperson said.
“Despite the important reforms introduced to improve support for young people with SEND, the system is not working for every pupil – that’s why our SEND Review is looking at how to make sure it is consistent all over the country, high quality, and integrated across education, health and care.”
Additional reporting by Press Association
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