Reducing EHCP entitlement would be ‘the wrong place for the Government to start reforming’ the Send system, the Education Committee chairwoman said.
The Department for Education (DfE) should establish national standards for baseline special educational needs and disabilities (Send) provision in education, MPs have said.
The Commons Education Select Committee has said the DfE should publish statutory requirements setting out minimum resources, expertise and equipment all schools must have access to as part of their Send support offer.
These national standards should be established for the everyday adjustments all schools are expected to provide without requiring a formal diagnosis, MPs said in their report Solving the Send Crisis.
MPs said current inconsistency in provision is “unacceptable and results in deeply inequitable experiences” for children with Send.
The committee also recommended the DfE mandate that at least one member of a school’s senior leadership team should hold a Send qualification, and within four years all headteachers should hold a Send-specific qualification.
Helen Hayes, chairwoman of the committee, said: “The Government must develop a standardised, national framework for the support that children with Send can expect in school, long before requiring an (Education Health and Care Plan) EHCP, so that there can be confidence and clear lines of accountability.
“In the long term, a genuinely inclusive, well-resourced mainstream education system will bring down the desperate struggle to obtain an EHCP. This will also help stabilise the sector financially.”
The demand for EHCPs, which are legal documents setting out support required for young people with Send, has been rising, driving spiralling costs for local authorities and pressure on Send services.
The total number of EHCPs in England has risen from 353,995 in 2019 to 638,745 in 2025, DfE figures show.
The Government will set out how it will reform the Send system in the Schools White Paper later this year.
There have been concerns that EHCPs may be cut under the Government reforms.
“We make a really clear recommendation in the report that the entitlement to EHCPs should remain as it is at the moment, and that there should be no reduction in that entitlement and no raising of the threshold for that entitlement,” Ms Hayes told the PA news agency.
“At the moment, we think that there is not sufficient accountability across many aspects of the system. At the moment, the EHCP, the statutory part of the system, is where there is accountability,” she added.
“And we also know that children and parents have no trust and confidence in the system at the moment. So in our view, it would be entirely the wrong place for the Government to start reforming the system.”
Speaking at a debate on Monday, education minister Georgia Gould said there “will always be a legal right to additional support” for young people with Send.
The DfE has said that as part of its plans to reform the Send system, it wants more inclusive education in mainstream schools so Send pupils’ needs can be met there.
“While it is usual for there to be significant numbers of children with Send in mainstream schools, the current system is not designed with inclusion in mind,” the report states.
“As a consequence, it addresses Send needs on an individual case-by-case basis as additional to the mainstream and not a part of it, and it cannot cope with the current level of need.”
The committee said the Government does not have a clear definition of what inclusive education really means, and should publish its definition of this within three months.
As well as developing provision in mainstream schools, the DfE should invest in more state special schools, the committee said, by shifting money from some independent special schools.
MPs have also called for professional development on Send to be mandatory for all teachers working in mainstream schools.
Current funding for Send pupils in mainstream schools of £6,000 must be increased every year in line with inflation, the report adds.
Both the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL) and NAHT school leaders’ union said any Government Send reforms will struggle to achieve objectives without proper investment.
It is also essential to reduce the deficits local authorities are facing on their high needs budgets, MPs said, and suggested a partial write-off of Send deficits could help, but must be approached carefully.
The report said the education system is “increasingly shouldering the weight of responsibilities” for supporting children with Send “that should, in part, be met by health services”.
Ongoing NHS restructuring must be used to strengthen accountability of health services in supporting young people with Send, it added.
“From our point of view, the most important thing is for the Government to get reforms right,” Ms Hayes told PA.
“What we hope is that the Government will take our recommendations and choose to make those the basis of their reforms. If they need a bit more time to do that I think that’s more important than rushing out reforms which might not then be fully fledged and might not land well with parents and professionals,” she added.
Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson said: “This report highlights the deep-rooted issues which have plagued the Send system for too long.
“I am continuing to listen closely to families, teachers and experts, as we put together plans to transform outcomes for every child with Send, building on the work we have already started.
“The report rightly highlights the need for actions we’re already taking, to make sure that evidence-based support is available as routine, without a fight, for every child who needs it – from significant investment in places for children with Send, to improved teacher training, to our Best Start Family Hubs in every local area.”
