More than a quarter of young people at college have special educational needs or disabilities. College is a lifeline for these students, as it is college that prepares them for their next phase of life, whether that means getting a job, going to university, or moving into adult social care.
Earlier this year, the government published its SEND and Alternative Provision green paper, explaining its ideas about how to reform the SEND system across the country. Unfortunately, but not entirely surprisingly, most of the green paper is about changes they want to make to the set up in schools. The green paper is also concerned with those children and young people described as having “High Needs” – meaning that their support costs more than £6000 a year. But this has left a whole group of young people out of the conversation: college students who need support for their SEND but don’t have what is known as High Needs.
