UK SEND Statistics: Part 1 – Number of Pupils (With or without an EHCP)

This is the first in our series of UK SEND statistics as we look into the numbers, stats and figures across many categories of SEND and how it has improved or declined.

https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/special-educational-needs-in-england

How many children are in schools in England

9,092,073 All schools in England – an increase of 18,200 from 2023

In 2024, over 1.6 million pupils in England had special educational needs (SEN).

This represents an increase of 101,000 from 2023. This includes the number of pupils with an education, health and care (EHC) plan and the number of pupils with SEN support, both of which have continued to increase in trend since 2016.

The percentage of pupils with an EHC plan has increased to 4.8% in 2024, from 4.3% in 2023 continuing a trend of increases since 2016.

Source: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/special-educational-needs-in-england

Changes to note

• The most common type of need for those with an EHCP is autistic spectrum disorder, and for those with SEN support is speech, language and communication needs.
• 23.5% increase in children with EHCPs in mainstream nursery, although the numbers are still under 1% of the total.
• In mainstream primary, an increase of 16%.
• Mainstream secondary, increases of 14.5%.
• Mainstream special schools saw a 5.6% increase.
• But non-maintained special schools only rose by 1.6% in NMSS.
• Independent provision saw a 16.7% increase in children with EHCPs.
• Alternative provision (AP) increase is 13.9%.
• AP is growing at a similar rate to an “EHCP destination” as a mainstream school. When you add in those in AP without EHC Plans, it has risen by 20.3% on 2023. This is the fastest-going sector.

How many EHCPS are issued (going up or down)

The percentage of pupils with an EHC plan has increased from 4.3% in 2023, to 4.8% in 2024:

2023:

• EHC Plan Pupils: 4.3%
• Other Pupils: 95.7%

2024:

• EHC Plan Pupils: 4.8%
• Other Pupils: 95.2%

Types of Needs for EHC Plans

• The most common type of need for those with an EHC plan:
  Autistic spectrum disorder and for those with SEN support is speech, language and communication needs
• The amount of pupils with SEN but no EHC plan:
  The percentage of pupils with SEN (SEN support) but no EHC plan has increased to 13.6% in 2024, from 13.0% in 2023.

Number of pupils with or without EHC plans

• Number of pupils with an EHC plan has increased by over 80% since 2016
• The number of pupils with an EHC plan has increased by 11.6% between 2023 and 2024 to 434,000, and by a total of 83.4% since 2016.
• The number of pupils with SEN support has increased by 4.7% from 2023 to 2024, and by a total of 24.9% since 2016. Since 2016, the total pupil population increased by 6.2%.
• Pupils with an EHC plan made up one quarter (26.0%) of all pupils with SEN in January 2024. This is an increase from 19.3% in 2016.
• The number and percentage of pupils with SEN has continued to rise
• The percentage of pupils with an EHC plan has increased to 4.8% in 2024, continuing a trend of increases since 2016. Prior to this, the rate had remained steady at 2.8%

Number and percentage of pupils with SEN support

The percentage of pupils with SEN support has increased to 13.6%, continuing an increasing trend from 2016.

• The number of pupils with an EHC plan has increased across all school types
• In primary, 3.0% of pupils have an EHC plan and 14.1% have SEN support
• In secondary, 2.7% of pupils have an EHC plan and 12.9% have SEN support
• In state-funded Alternative Provision (AP) schools, 24.2% have an EHC plan and 58.1% have SEN support
• In independent schools, including independent special schools, 5.7% of pupils have an EHC plan and 16.7% have SEN support.
• The largest increase in EHC plans was in primary, with an additional 18,900 pupils with plans since 2023.
• The percentage of all pupils with an EHC plan who are in mainstream schools
• The percentage of all pupils with an EHC plan who are in mainstream schools (state-funded primary and secondary) has increased from 52.7% to 54.4% in 2024, these trends continue patterns seen since 2018.

Source: https://www.ascl.org.uk/Help-and-Advice/Inclusion/SEND/Summary-of-June-2024-DfE-SEND-data#:~:text=this%20results%20in%20a%20total,up%20by%204.7%25%20from%202023

Increases in number of children with EHCPs:

• In mainstream primary, an increase of 16%.
• Mainstream secondary, increases of 14.5%.
• Mainstream special schools saw a 5.6% increase.
• But non-maintained special schools only rose by 1.6% in the NMSS.
• Independent provision saw a 16.7% increase in children with EHCPs.

https://nasen.org.uk/news/sen-data-january-2024

• A total of 18.4% of children in England have some kind of special educational need- up from 17.3% in 2023
• That’s a total of 1,673,205 of children with SEND, which is an increase of over 100,000 from 2023
• There’s been a 7.1% increase in the number of children on SEN Support who have no noted type of assessed need

Source: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/education-health-and-care-plans

• The total number of Education, Health and Care (EHC) plans has continued to increase
• The number of children and young people with EHC plans increased to 576,474, as at census day in January 2024, up by 11.5% from 2023.
• The number of EHC plans has increased each year since their introduction in 2014.

The total number of Education, Health and Care (EHC) plans has continued to increase
The number of children and young people with EHC plans increased to 576,000, as at census day in January 2024, up by 11.4% from 2023. The number of EHC plans has increased each year since their introduction in 2014.

The number of new EHC plans issued in the calendar year has continued to increase
84,400 new EHC plans were made during the 2023 calendar year. The number of new EHC plans made during the calendar year has increased each year since their introduction in 2014.

The number of initial requests for an EHC plan in the calendar year has continued to increase
There were 138,200 initial requests for an EHC plan during 2023, up from 114,500 in 2022. Apart from a decrease in 2020, an atypical year when the pandemic was disrupting both education and local authority services, initial requests have increased each year since EHC plans were introduced.

The proportion of new plans issued within 20 weeks has increased
In 2023, 50.3% of new EHC plans were issued within 20 weeks. This is an increase compared to 2022 when the figure was 49.2%.

Source: https://www.ascl.org.uk/Help-and-Advice/Inclusion/SEND/Summary-of-June-2024-DfE-SEND-data#:~:text=1%2C238%2C851%20children%20are%20on%20SEN,type%20of%20assessed%20need%20noted