Millions spent on attempts to block help for children with special needs

needs and disabilities (Send) services is urgent and essential.

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The number of children applying for and being granted EHCPs has shot up in recent years as school and council budgets have dwindled, leaving EHCPs as the only way for families to get extra funding and support for a child and their place of education.

Department for Education (DfE) figures show that nearly one in 19 children aged between five and 15 in England now have an EHCP, which can name a school for the child to attend and detail the additional support they need to be given, paid for out of a local authority's high-needs budget.

In 2022-23 the Send tribunal registered 13,658 appeals against EHCP decisions, a 24% increase from the 11,052 registered the previous year.

The latest data, published this month, showed that tribunal costs will continue to surge after 21,000 appeals were registered in 2023-24 – an annual increase of 55% – and only 17,000 were concluded, adding to the 9,000 case backlog seen earlier this year.

Of the 13,658 tribunals registered in 2022-23, 7,829 were decided fully or partially in favour of the appealing families.