SEN0652

Written evidence submitted by SEND in The Specialists Coalition

Workforce issues for teachers, SENCOs, specialists, early years practitioners and all those who work with children with SEND

Summary

A key component of solving the SEND crisis is improving investment in and the planning for the specialist workforce for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).
This will not only ensure better support for children and young people with SEND, it will also ensure those professionals working with them are also better supported to do so, including through having improved access to the specialist workforce across health, education, and social care.
This will help to remove the barriers to opportunity that too many children and young people with SEND face and will also help them to thrive.
For too long, the specialist workforce for children and young people with SEND has been neither adequately funded nor properly planned for, developed, or retained.
Addressing this requires action from a range of Government departments. It is everybody’s business, not just the Department for Education’s. It requires input as a minimum from the Department of Health and Social Care. It also requires input from other relevant Departments, including the Ministry of Justice, and the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government. Input from relevant agencies is also required, for instance NHS England.
To solve the workforce aspects of the SEND crisis, the Government must produce a SEND workforce strategy. This must be developed across Government and with input from external organisations and coalitions, such as the SEND in The Specialists coalition, and from children and young people and their families.
Allied to this, the Government should work with the coalition and its members, on the identification and sharing of examples of good practice and the roll out of solutions.
There needs to be greater recognition that early intervention is not something that happens just in the early years. Early intervention can happen at any stage of a child or young person’s life.
Related to that, there is also a need for coordinated, integrated commissioning to ensure access to early specialist SEND support. This will help to ensure that rather than waiting for difficulties to escalate, requiring more urgent, individualised intervention, they can be identified and supported early.
We welcome the Select Committee’s Chair’s call for the Government to produce a workforce plan for all the professions related to SEND support, so that professional expertise and support will be there for children and families who need it.

Why the specialist workforce matters

Ensuring children and young people can access the specialist support they need from expert professionals is essential at every stage of their lives – from the early years, throughout their school lives, and, for those over 16, in colleges.
Many children and young people with SEND require support from a range of specialists.
For mainstream educational settings to be truly inclusive, teachers and other staff working in them must have access to a broad range of specialist education, health, and social care professionals to ensure the best outcomes for children and young people, including those with SEND. Specialist settings must also be able to recruit the specialist staff they need to meet the needs of their pupils.
A wide range of professionals provide direct support to children and young people, in addition to helping teachers and other staff, such as teaching assistants, to develop their knowledge and skills. They also help identify needs early, giving children the best possible start to education and reducing the demand for more expensive support later in life, as well as facilitating more children to be supported in mainstream schools.
The specialist workforce also plays a vital role in keeping more children and young people in school. Through developing the skills of teachers and other staff to meet the needs of more children, they can reduce the demand for additional support that has an impact on staff capacity and resources.
As such, the specialist workforce will play an important role in solving the SEND crisis.

Current challenges in accessing the specialist workforce

Across the sectors represented by the SEND in The Specialists coalition, there are a variety of concerning issues impacting the specialist workforce, including:

● an insufficient number of specialists being trained to meet demand;

● a falling number of specialists, including through them failing to be retained and supported to further develop their specialisms, with some leaving the public sector;

● an increased demand for support in general and in more complex cases in particular; and

● responding to the pressures of COVID-19 which has exacerbated pre-existing demands on the specialist workforce and increased waiting times to access them.

This is an urgent issue. Without access now to the specialist support they need, children and young people, including those with SEND, will be at increased risk of poorer educational outcomes. In addition, the children and young people and their families we work with tell us about the negative impact of not being able to access support. They tell us it affects their education, mental health and wellbeing, home and social life, employment prospects. and life chances.
Issues around accessing the specialist workforce for children and young people with SEND have been raised in Parliament for many years. Since the General Election there have been numerous debates in both the House of Commons and the House of Lords, with a number of MPs raising SEND in their maiden speeches, and through written questions.
Unless urgent action is taken now on workforce planning, we are also at risk of further challenges in accessing the specialist workforce. The long-term future of the specialist workforce must be secured through proper workforce planning so that children and young people with SEND can access the support they need to thrive, now and in the future.
It is also essential that children and young people with SEND from disadvantaged backgrounds, and those who are experiencing inequitable outcomes, are a major focus in the Government’s plans and receive targeted action.

Government recognition

The Government’s recognition of the issues affecting the specialist workforce is welcome. It is also encouraging that the Secretary of State for Education has recognised the importance of working with her colleagues in the Department of Health and Social Care. It is also welcome that a Department of Health and Social Care minister, the Minister of State for Care, has SEND in their portfolio.

What needs to be done

While such recognition is welcome, action is needed. It is needed urgently.
Echoing the words of the Select Committee’s Chair in a Westminster Hall debate on increasing investment in speech and language therapy on 27 January 2025, the Government must produce a SEND workforce strategy covering the entire specialist workforce supporting children and young people with SEND and the professionals working with them. This will require a cross-Government approach, with input from relevant agencies, external organisations and coalitions, and children and young people and their families.
There is also a need for coordinated, integrated commissioning to ensure access to early specialist SEND support, underpinned by a recognition that early intervention can take place at any stage of a child and young person’s life, not just in the early years.

About the SEND in The Specialists coalition

The SEND in The Specialists coalition was formed in November 2022 to call for increased investment in and improved workforce planning for the specialist workforce for children and young people with SEND.
The coalition takes a broad and inclusive approach to defining the specialist workforce and to the settings in which they work. It covers early years settings, schools, and post-16 settings. It covers health, education, social care, criminal justice, and other relevant professionals.
From an initial 114 members, the coalition has grown to over 130 organisations.
Its lead organisations are Guide Dogs, the National Deaf Children’s Society, the Royal College of Occupational Therapists, the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists (RCSLT), and Speech and Language UK. The RCSLT provides the coalition’s secretariat.

January 2025