As the number of children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) grows, we want to fund research to improve people’s experiences with specialist provision in schools across the UK.
Newly released government figures show that in England, over 1.5 million pupils have special educational needs. This has gone up by 87,000 since 2022 and continues a trend of increases that began in 2016.
The rise has piled pressure on a SEND system already under strain and which often leaves many pupils without essential support. We’re calling for research that can identify how the SEND system can better serve the needs of children and their families.
Earlier in the year the government published the SEND and Alternative Provision Improvement Plan – Right Support, Right Place for England. It acknowledges that ‘the system is failing to deliver for children, young people and their families.’ It also details how parents and carers are ‘frustrated at having to navigate an increasingly complex and adversarial system’ and that the ‘growing tension across the system is causing delays in accessing support and increasing financial challenges for local government.’
