The lack of support Send parents receive laid bare ahead of new government reforms

Nearly half of parents with children who have special educational needs and disabilities (Send) fear that vital support could be reduced as they await details of impending government reforms.

A survey by disability charity Sense found that 47 per cent of parents shared this concern.

The poll of 1,000 Send parents highlighted the profound impact on families, with more than a third (35 per cent) reporting they had left their jobs due to a lack of appropriate support for their child.

Additionally, 40 per cent indicated they had been forced to cut their working hours.

These findings emerge ahead of the government’s anticipated Schools White Paper, expected early this year, which will outline its plans to overhaul the Send system.

Much of the speculation has focused on Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCPs), which are legal documents designed to guarantee support for young people with Send.

The growing number of EHCPs has led to escalating costs for local authorities, prompting some to advocate for legislative changes that would restrict these plans to only the highest-need cases. This prospect has generated considerable apprehension among many Send parents.

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Education minister Georgia Gould has previously said there “will always be a legal right to additional support” for young people with Send.

Sense chief executive James Watson-O’Neill said: “A shocking number of children are being failed by a baffling and underfunded Send system. Too many are falling through the cracks – at the cost of their happiness, wellbeing and future life chances.

“So it’s little surprise that parents feel deep anxiety and distrust about the upcoming education reforms. If their children’s legal rights are weakened any further or there’s an attempt to cut spending, the consequences could be devastating.”

Half (50 per cent) of the parents surveyed by Sense said they are nervous about reforms, and nearly half (48 per cent) said it had been stressful to get the support they currently have in place.

Kimberly Hind, mother to five-year-old Harvey – who is deaf-blind, told the Press Association they waited more than a year for his EHCP.

In the meantime, he lost a space at a special school, and struggled attending a mainstream nursery that did not have the capacity to meet his needs.

He was getting extremely distressed about going into nursery, to the point Mrs Hind had to give up her job to focus on caring for him, leaving the family of five on only her husband’s income and her carer’s allowance.

Harvey was finally able to start at a special school in September 2025 after getting his final EHCP in February.

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“Generally he has this fear and anxiety now of too many children,” Mrs Hind told PA.

“We are going one step at a time and he’s starting to communicate better with his peers in his class, but I do think because he was so anxious and distressed at one time it’s just stuck with him.”

Mrs Hind said the EHCP system needs reforming to be more responsive to different needs for different children, but said she is “extremely concerned” about any changes in the funding Harvey receives for support through his EHCP.

“The ordeal we went through to get Harvey’s EHCP, which he was fully entitled to, was horrific for him and our whole family,” she said.

A Send taskforce set up by the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) previously found one in 14 young people waited longer than a year to be issued an EHCP in 2024.

The Government has already announced it will spend £200 million to give all teachers training in supporting children with Send, and £3 billion funding will go towards creating around 50,000 new school places for Send children.