The news has recently highlighted the concerns expressed as to the possible changes to education, health and care plans (EHCPs) for children with special educational needs and disabilities (Send).

Campaigners have raised their concerns that thousands of children could lose their legal protections and possibly be denied the essential provisions to allow them to an education, if the government implemented changes that would restrict or abolish EHCPs.

What is an education, health and care plan?

An EHCP is a legally binding document which ensures a child or young person with special or educational needs (Send) in England gets the right support from a local authority.

It covers a wide range of needs such as communication assistance to enable support to engage with lessons, learning support to maximise interaction with their class or peers and support to manage their personal care needs.

It can also cover additional teaching assistance, therapy input and medical needs, for example with a child who has epilepsy or other diagnosis such as cerebral palsy, ADHD or autism.

These plans are crucial to enable a child to effectively learn and develop throughout their school life. It is an essential tool to allow for learning in both mainstream and special need school environments. Families should not be faced with uncertainty as to these needs being met.

The Guardian recently announced the launch of Save Our Children’s Rights (SOCR) campaign led by Special Needs Jungle and IPSEA, which reflects the concerns for EHCPs to remain, and whose petition has passed 100,000 signatures.

Current situation

From working with many families with children who have additional educational needs, I am aware that there are extensive delays in accessing EHCPs initially and the process is often long and complex to get an EHCP in place. However once in place this provides peace of mind, reassurance and a legally binding document that the child’s needs will be met.

An EHCP should be regularly updated to develop with the child’s needs, unfortunately I have experienced, with some of my clients, that this is not being done. The tribunal process is also complex and daunting when an EHCP is being challenged.

Special education teams working across the country, are often under-funded and under-staffed when they are a pivotal area of support for children who are most vulnerable and need this support to access their education.

It is so important that special education teams are funded and staffed to provide crucial guidance for families. I hope this discussion and recent petition draws attention to this need and increased support is offered to families rather than this being affected in any way.

Full details of the proposed changes are due in October, and the government have not ruled out abolishing EHCPs, but have said that no decision has been taken just yet.