Question to the Department for Education:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the numbers of children registered as having special educational needs in each year since that term was first used to the most recent date for which such data are available; and what plans they have to publish those data in tabular form.

The special educational needs (SEN) system was substantially reformed in 2014. One of the features of this was that there was a wider age range than before, meaning higher SEN numbers amongst children. Children can either receive support in schools (known as SEN support) or those with more complex needs are issued with an Education, Health and Care (EHC) plan.

The department collects and publishes data on the numbers of pupils with SEN support and of children and young people aged 0-25 with EHC plans from 2015 (and the forerunner to EHC plans, constituting statements of SEN, which were phased out between 2015 and 2018).

Data shows that in the academic year 2015/16, 991,981 pupils were on SEN Support; in the academic year 2019/20 this was 1,079,000, and in 2015, 240,183 children and young people aged 0-25 had EHC plans (combined with statements); in 2020, there were 390,109 EHC plans.

Further data on pupils in schools with SEN (EHC plans and SEN support) can be found at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/special-educational-needs-in-england.

Data on all children and young people aged 0-25 with an EHC plan can be found at https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/education-health-and-care-plans.

The releases contain tables with key figures, and a table tool allowing users to create their own tables by selecting options from the filters available. Information on pupils in schools with SEN is expected to be updated in July 2021 with data for the 2020/21 academic year, and information on EHC plans in May 2021.