Special Educational Needs: support in England
An overview of the current system of support for children and young people with special educational needs, and pressure on the system. Updated with new 2024-25 SEND incidence and EHC plan data

This House of Commons library briefing paper gives an update on developments since the earlier paper, Coronavirus: Implications for the further and higher education sectors in England, 17 April 2020 and includes information on the Government support package for universities and students which was announced on 4 May 2020, online delivery of undergraduate courses in 2020/21 and the re-opening of colleges.
Coronavirus:Update implications for the further and higher education sectors (4 MB , PDF)
This briefing paper was last updated in May 2020 and will no longer be updated. |
On 20 March 2020 colleges and universities were closed in response to the Covid 19 pandemic.
The closure of institutions has raised a significant number of issues for providers and students and has caused considerable concern across the post-18 education sector.
Library briefing, Coronavirus: implications for the further and higher education sectors in Englanddiscussed concerns that were raised in the early weeks of lockdown. The paper covered among other things: the financial impact on the sectors and the higher education sector’s call for a £2bn bailout package, university admissions in 2020/21 and student concerns about accommodation costs, teaching and assessment and support funds.
This paper follows up on that briefing and gives updates on later announcements and developments, including: the Government’s 4 May 2020 announcement of a support package for universities and students, university’s online delivery of undergraduate courses in 2020/21, deferment of students in 2020/21 and information on the re-opening of colleges.
This paper follows a similar format to the earlier paper and was correct at the time of writing, 21 May 2020. For later information readers should consult Government and stakeholder websites
Coronavirus:Update implications for the further and higher education sectors (4 MB , PDF)
An overview of the current system of support for children and young people with special educational needs, and pressure on the system. Updated with new 2024-25 SEND incidence and EHC plan data
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