Why children with Send from low-income homes face ‘double disadvantage’
Special Educational Needs and Disability (Send) children, also from poor homes, face a double disadvantage, a charity has warned.
Social mobility charity Sutton Trust said disadvantaged children from Send were being failed by a system “beset by inconsistency and mind-boggling bureaucracy”.
Children from low-income backgrounds are more likely to have the Syndrome, but are less likely to receive support through an education, health and care plan (EHCP) than their wealthier peers, a new survey has found.
The survey found that only 26 per cent of children were eligible for free school meals, but those eligible for free school meals made up 44 per cent of those with an EHCP and 39 per cent of those receiving Send Without EHCP support.
Children from Send who receive free school meals face worse outcomes than their more affluent peers from Send.
In 2023-24, just 7.5 per cent of EHCP pupils receiving free school meals achieved grades 4 or above in GCSE English and maths, compared to 17 per cent of EHCP pupils from better-off families.
A total of 4,008 parents were surveyed, of whom 1,273 had children with Send.
Nick Harrison, chief executive of the Sutton Trust, said it was unacceptable that a child’s background determined whether they could get the help they needed to succeed at school.
“Getting the right support for a child shouldn’t be about a parent’s ability to pay. We need urgent action to make the system work better for everyone,” he added.
EHCPs are legal documents that specify the support required for young people with Send. The survey, conducted by Public First, found that more than two-thirds (68 per cent) of middle-class parents had spent money on applying for an EHCP, compared to just 28 per cent of working-class parents.
At the extreme, 11 per cent of middle-class parents spent more than £5,000 on their applications.
Additionally, two-fifths (41 percent) of middle-class parents reported providing a private school place for their child, while only a quarter (25 percent) of low-income parents reported providing a private school place.
Margaret Mulholland, Delivery and Participation Specialist at the Association of School and College Leaders, said the divide in the ability to pay to access support meant “we effectively have a two-tier system”.
Wealthier families are also more likely to successfully use the court system to obtain an EHCP; 22 percent of wealthier parents did this successfully, compared to 15 percent of lower-income parents.
Referral courts allow families who are unhappy with the decision about their child’s EHCP to appeal. Parents are very likely to win: 99 percent of cases decided in 2023-24 were in favor of the appellant.
Charlotte O’Regan, senior headteacher at the Sutton Trust, said parents paying to access better support were “a symptom of this broken system, not the cause”.
“With appalling waiting times across the UK and many requests for support being refused, it is natural that parents who have the means to turn to a private service to help their child,” he added.
“The system should not force parents to pay to get the support their children need.”
The report also found that middle-class parents were happier with the support their children from Send received than working-class parents.
Both Ms Mulholland and Paul Whiteman, general secretary of school leaders’ union NAHT (National Association of Headteachers), said Send’s lack of funding meant schools were struggling to provide the support needed.
The government is expected to publish its plans to reform the Referral system in the school’s White Paper in the coming months.
The Sutton Foundation is calling for the process of receiving support to be simplified to make it more equitable for families, and for the government to recognize and act on the relationship between child poverty and Send.
National Education Union (YDB) general secretary Daniel Kebede said the upcoming White Paper should bring “radical change” backed by significant investment.
Minister for School Standards Georgia Gould said: “This report highlights the stark inequalities and poor outcomes facing Send families under the system this government has inherited.
“We are committed to strengthening a system that serves all families, not just the lucky few, so we engage children and parents from diverse backgrounds as we develop plans to ensure all children have the outcomes and life opportunities they deserve.
“This work is already underway, including improved training for teachers, £740 million to help create more specialist school places and earlier intervention for speech and language needs, reassuring parents that support will be provided routinely at the earliest stage.”
