Mental Health Awareness Week 2023: Supporting the mental health of children with SEND

Just under 1.5 million pupils in England have special educational needs, an increase of 77,000 from 2021 (UK Gov, 2022).

People with learning disabilities experience poorer health outcomes than the rest of the population, including with their mental health.

• Anxiety affects 55% of children with SEN, as opposed to 34% of children without SEN (Hansard, 2022). 
• Pupils with SEN were more likely to report difficulty concentrating in class than those without (DfE, 2022).

Demand for mental health assessment has increased by 60% in the past 5 years. 

Since the pandemic, it has gone up by a further 27% (Hansard, 2022).

At the same time, there is only one educational psychologist for every 5,000 children, which is far from enough (Hansard, 2022). 

SEND Improvement Plan

In March 2023, the government published the SEND and AP Improvement Plan, which aims to create a sustainable SEND and AP provision system that is easier for families to navigate.   

However, most of the plans are just about testing things out.  We don’t yet know what the standards will look like in practice. Also, the national standards won’t be embedded into the system until at least the end of 2025, probably later.

In a nutshell:

• No change to SEND Legal Entitlements
• No change to EHCP Assessment Criteria
• No change to rights of appeal 
• No change to mediation 

The improvement plan recognises the interconnection between special educational needs, emotional needs and mental health, which is welcomed. 

However, the current proposals do not go far enough in tackling the rising demand for mental health needs, nor sufficiently focus on the particular needs of children with SEND. 

Changes supportive to children’s mental health

(not an exhaustive list) 

Mental health assessments need to happen as early as possible to prevent the escalation of needs and offer support tailored to the needs of each child. 

We want to see the rollout of Mental health support teams in all schools, along with a review of embedding them in a whole school approach. 

Notably, the needs of children should not be made to fit into funding bands, and any SEND reform should be co-designed with children and families.

How can you support our work?

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