The government is being called on by MPs to carry out a review of education, health and care plans (EHCPs) as part of measures to ease a £4bn gap in council finances, caused by “systemic underfunding” of local government.
Under the current system councils are unable to provide sufficient locally available school places to keep up with demand from the increasing number of children subject to the plans, which are in place to support children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).
This means that many councils are required to spend an increasing proportion of their budgets on transporting children over long distances, according to members of the Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (LUHC) committee in their report into local authorities’ finances.
They cite figures from the County Councils Network that the number of children travelling to special schools has increased by a quarter over the last five years.
