Committee publication · Report · 18 September 2025 · HC 492
Easy Read - 5th Report - Solving the SEND crisis
From: Education Committee
Inquiry: Solving the SEND Crisis
Summary
This Easy Read version of the Education Committee's 5th Report outlines eight recommended changes to improve Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) support in England. The committee identifies systemic failures since 2014 legislation, with growing numbers of children and families unable to access adequate support. Recommendations focus on making mainstream schools inclusive, rebuilding trust, improving staff training and funding, strengthening partnerships, expanding specialist provision, and better supporting young children and teenagers.
Key findings
- Mainstream schools lack sufficient resources to support children with SEND, forcing more families to seek specialist placements and EHC plans.
- Long waiting times for health professionals like educational psychologists and speech and language therapists delay support for children with SEND.
- Specialist state schools lack capacity, forcing many children to travel long distances or attend expensive independent placements.
- Young people aged 16-25 receive significantly less SEND support than younger children, limiting their training and work experience options.
- Early intervention services for young children with speech, language and behavioural needs show positive results but lack resources for nationwide rollout.
Recommendations
- Department for Education must write new inclusive standards for all schools and colleges on SEND support, ensuring resources and accessible buildings.
- Restore trust by ensuring DfE provides clear information, schools follow standards, and staff receive training and support.
- Increase training for all teachers in SEND support and recruit more educational psychologists and speech and language therapists through interdepartmental collaboration.
- Secure adequate funding for local authorities, schools and colleges to deliver sustainable SEND support.
- Establish clear statutory duties for health and care services on SEND; create a dedicated role in Department of Health and Social Care to coordinate national SEND support.
- Expand capacity in specialist state schools with sufficient buildings and resources to reduce reliance on expensive independent provision.
- Fund the two successful early intervention services for young children nationwide and make Best Start for Life fully inclusive for children with SEND.
- Expand training and work experience options for young people aged 16-25; revise the compulsory Maths and English retake rule to offer alternatives for students with SEND.
Tone
FactualTopics
Key actors
House of Commons Education Committee, Department for Education, Department of Health and Social Care, Local authorities, Educational psychologists, Speech and language therapists
Notable line
“… lots of children and young people with SEND, and their families, who ● ● do not get the help and support they need.”
Key Quotes
“… person with SEND might ● ● ● need extra or different support to learn. find it harder to learn than other people their age. find it harder to go to school or college.”
“… mainstream schools and colleges do not have enough resources to manage the needs of all the children and young people with SEND.”
“We need to make mainstream schools and colleges inclusive so they can give good support to children and young people with SEND.”
“At the moment, people have to wait a long time to see these health professionals. This means they wait a long time for other support too.”
“… young people get a lot less support when they are over 16 years old. We need to change this.”
“It can make them feel bad about themselves if they take the same exams more than once and still do not do well.”
Source · parliament.uk record ↗