Question to the Department for Education:

To ask His Majesty's Government what percentage of young people with an Education, Health and Care Plan are in employment at (1) 18 years, (2) 21 years, and (3) 25 years, old.

Published evidence cannot directly answer the exact wording of the question. The government has published multiple pieces of analysis that examine employment outcomes for people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). Taken together, this evidence shows that there is an employment gap between those with SEND and those without.

Note that for children and young people with more complex needs, the education, health and care (EHC) plan replaced statements and Learning Difficulty Assessments (LDAs) in 2014. This replacement took some years to rollout. Details are available at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/398815/SEND_Code_of_Practice_January_2015.pdf. There are therefore limited cohorts of pupils where it is possible to assess long-term employment rates for individuals with EHC plans.

The most relevant published evidence assesses the outcomes of young people that took their GCSEs exams between 2002 and 2007. The 2021 report is available at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1122775/Research_report_-_Post_16_education_and_labour_market_activities_pathways_and_outcomes_LEO.pdf. The report covers cohorts that took their GCSEs before special educational needs (SEN) statements were replaced by EHC plans. This analysis shows that of the 2001/02 key stage 4 GCSEs, usually taken at age 16, cohort used in the analysis, 39% of people that had a SEN statement were in employment[1] fifteen years later. For comparison, 50% that had SEN without a statement were estimated to be employed, versus 63% of students with no identified SEN.

There are multiple other pieces of published evidence that assesses the labour market outcomes of those with a SEN, a learning difficulty and/or a disability captured below:

• The department publishes key stage 4 and key stage 5 destination data by pupil characteristic: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/statistics-destinations.
• The department also publishes outcome data for further education learners: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/further-education-outcome-based-success-measures.
• The Office for National Statistics publishes estimates of UK employment rates for people with disabilities: https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/healthandsocialcare/disability/articles/outcomesfordisabledpeopleintheuk/2021.
• NHS Digital publishes employment rates for adults with learning difficulties receiving support from social services: https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/adult-social-care-outcomes-framework-ascof/2021-22.

[1] Employment is defined here as “the individual has been in paid employment for at least one day in each of the 12 months of the tax year. If the individual has a spell of employment but no income in the tax year (e.g. career break) then the individual is not counted as being employed.”