A majority of teachers support reducing the role of education, health & care plans (EHCPs) and investing in alternative models of support, new research suggests.
A new briefing by the Social Market Foundation (SMF), with polling provided by Teacher Tapp, assesses the current state of the special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) landscape, what interventions have been put in place by government, and what reforms would be likely to work in the existing policy landscape.
The SEND system is under considerable pressure, with the period between 2015/16 and 2024/25 seeing a 44 per cent increase in the number of SEND pupils in England. This has come with an associated increase in providing educational support – with costs rising from £7.8bn to £11.8bn in the same period. This week, a survey by the Local Government Association found eight in 10 councils warning they could become insolvent over mounting deficits related to the provision of SEND support. The government has indicated proposals to reform the SEND system will be included in the upcoming Schools White Paper.
As part of the research TeacherTapp surveyed 9,481 teachers and 441 SENCOs in January 2026. When SENCOs were asked: ‘For students in your school with EHCPs, roughly what proportion receive the full support set out in their plans?’ only a minority (38 per cent) answered ‘all or almost all’. Meanwhile 28 per cent said it was half or fewer of their pupils that received the full support. All teachers were also asked which types of SEND support are the hardest for their school to provide for some students, with around four fifths of respondents saying one-to-one support.
Teachers were then asked to identify their preferred option for reform, assuming no additional funding were available in the SEND system. Only a minority (9 per cent) favoured keeping the current system, including EHCPs as they are currently used. However, even fewer (just 4 per cent) wanted to see the removal of EHCPs entirely, with all funding shifted to either early intervention or classroom based support. The majority (58 per cent total) favoured an approach similar to that rumoured to be under consideration by government, whereby EHCPs are reduced, and money shifted to other parts of the system. The largest portion of this group (39 per cent) wanted to see that funding shifted to a mix of early intervention and classroom-based support, with smaller proportions favouring a shift only to early intervention (9 per cent) or only to classroom-based support (11 per cent).
Based on these findings, the SMF is calling on the Government to reduce EHCPs and redistribute funding to focus on mainstream inclusion. However, they argue that the outcomes of such redistribution would need to be carefully monitored, and also call on the government to invest in building the evidence base on ‘what works’ to support SEND pupils in mainstream. They also suggest that when such reforms are introduced, they should be done so immediately but ‘grandfathered’, such that pupils with existing EHCPs retain their current entitlements. Finally, they argue that EHCP appeals be restricted to procedural grounds only, but with a random subset of EHCPs independently reassessed each year to ensure consistency, accountability, and safeguard public trust.
Dani Payne, Head of Education and Social Mobility at the SMF commented: ‘Britain’s SEND system is broken, with parents and policymakers alike urging Government to urgently begin the task of reform. Today’s research gives a realistic view from teachers of the options available to government, including a high level of support for rumoured plans to limit access to EHCPs. While these reforms may not be popular with some parents, change is urgently needed to ensure the system can actually deliver the support needed by young people while tackling spiralling costs.’
The full report is available at: https://www.smf.co.uk/publications/fixing-send/