Reporting year 2024

Education, health and care plans

This is the latest data

• Published: 13 June 2024
• Last updated: 13 June 2024
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  1. 13 June 2024

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This publication provides data on children and young people with an education, health and care (EHC) plan in England and, historically, for those with a statement of special educational needs (SEN). 

Data is presented for both the caseload as at January 2024, for example the number of EHC plans, and for activity during the 2023 calendar year, for example the number of new EHC plans in the calendar year.

The publication is based on data collected in the SEN2 data collection. From the reporting year 2023 (as at January 2023, 2022 calendar year), the data collection changed from aggregated figures at local authority level, to a person level collection. This was a major change in approach and as such there are time series breaks and important data quality caveats.

Data covering SEN in schools, including EHC plans and SEN support, is available in the ‘Special Educational Needs in England’ publication.

‘Explore data’ under the ‘Quick links’ header to the right contains files that underpin this release and allows users to interrogate and analyse data for themselves. For pre-populated summary statistics please see the relevant section below, from which the data can be further explored using the ‘Explore data’ functionality. You can also view featured tables or create your own tables using the ‘create tables’ functionality.

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Headline facts and figures - 2024

Explore data and files used in this release

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Data Quality

Changes to data collection

In the reporting year 2023, (as at January 2023, 2022 calendar year) the department moved from collecting aggregated data from local authorities, for example the number of new plans issued in the calendar year, to collecting person level data that can be aggregated up to produce these measures. This change has allowed the department to conduct much richer analysis of the data, for example producing more detailed age breakdowns or cross tabulating data items. It has introduced new data items such as ethnicity and sex of children and young people with an EHC plan. These changes will help the department to gain a much greater understanding of both those who have EHC plans and those who are undergoing the request and assessment process.

As this data collection is only in its second year, we expect the quality of data returns to continue to improve over time as the collection becomes established. Therefore care should be taken when comparing figures between years due to improvements in data quality and content and caveats in individual sections should be noted.

Areas with known issues in year on year comparisons include new plans, ceased plans, initial requests and assessments. Local authorities where there were large percentage changes from last years data collection have been contacted to allows for re-submission of data or confirmation as correct.

Response rate

Data returns were received from all local authorities, however not all data items are complete across all local authorities. There are a small number of local authorities which have missing data for items such as ceased plans, assessments and initial requests. This impacts less than 1% of the data. 

There are also a small number of cases where ongoing investigations into the data returned may result in revisions to the published data. 

Voluntary data items

Some data on annual reviews was collected on a voluntary basis in 2023 and compulsory in 2024, plus additional data items were collected on a voluntary basis in 2024. Data for these items is not included in the publication. Further checking of the data will take place and a decision of whether the data quality is sufficient for publication will be made at a later date. 

Data collection mitigations

In order to lessen the burden of the change to data collection on local authorities in 2023, a number of mitigations were included for the first year. This ranged from making new data items voluntary to allowing a higher level of detail to be returned as an establishment type where specific information was not available. Further information on the mitigations which were in place is detailed in the methodology document. Due to these mitigations care should be taken on making comparisons between years.

For further information on data quality please see the methodology document.  

Education, Health and Care plans at census date

As this data collection is only in its second year, we expect the quality of data returns to improve over time as the collection becomes established. For more information on data quality, please see the methodology.

There were 576,000 children and young people with Education, Health and Care (EHC) plans as at January 2024. This is an increase of 11.4% from 517,000 as at January 2023. This increase is slightly higher than the 9.3% rise between 2022 and 2023, and slightly higher than the average yearly increase of approximately 10% since 2014 (EHC plans and statements). 

The combined total of children and young people with EHC plans (and formerly, statements of SEN) has increased each year since 2010. EHC plans were introduced from September 2014, with statements of SEN being phased out by March 2018. As such we no longer see statements of SEN in the total.

Figures in this section refer to the total of both statements of SEN and EHC plans unless specified.

Children of compulsory school age continue to account for over two thirds of EHC plans

The number of children and young people with EHC plans has increased at all age bands. Children of compulsory school age (5 to 15 age groups) account for 69.1% of all EHC plans, slightly higher than 2023 when the figure was 68.6%. In 2024, for children of compulsory school age, the number of EHC plans rose by 11.6%.  

Children aged under 5 accounted for 4.6% of EHC plans. The number of plans for children in this age group increased to 26,500 in 2024, a 25.8% increase from 2023. 

From September 2014, EHC plans replaced Learning Difficulty Assessments (LDAs) for young people in further education (FE). Data on the number of LDAs was not collected in the SEN2 data collection therefore is not presented below. The percentage of children and young people with an EHC plan aged 16 years old and over has subsequently increased since January 2014 as young people both transferred from LDAs to EHC plans and carried their plans with them as they moved into FE. Some young people will also have been issued with a new EHC plan following their move to FE. 

In 2024, young people aged 16 to 25 accounted for 26.3% of all EHC plans. This age group has accounted for approximately a quarter of EHC plans since 2018.

The majority of children and young people with an EHC plan are male

71.3% of children and young people with an EHC plan are male, and 28.7% are female, percentages similar to those of 2023. 

From the 2024 collection, gender has been replaced by sex in this data collection. For publication purposes the historical gender variable and the new sex variable have been conflated into a single time series. Please see the methodology for more details.

In 2024, figures show that 68.9% of those with an EHC plan are white, with 64.0% recorded as ‘English/Welsh/Scottish/Northern Irish/British’. In 2024, 8.3% of children and young people with an EHC plan are Asian/Asian British and 5.7% are Black/African/Caribbean/Black British. These percentages vary little from 2023. 

Just over 9.4% of children and young people with an EHC plan have an unknown ethnicity, this includes where the ethnicity is not known to the local authority, is not recorded or data could not be provided. 

Historic data on gender and ethnicity is available for school pupils with EHC plans in the Special educational needs in England publication.

Number of plans by establishment type

The method for collecting data on establishments changed in 2023. A full time series to 2022 is still available within the data that can be downloaded from this publication, or via the table tool.

Prior to the reporting year 2023, local authorities provided data on the number of EHC plans where the child or young person was attending through a set list of establishment types. From 2023 onwards, information on the specific establishment has been recorded, with either the Unique Reference Number (URN), UK Provider Reference Number (UKPRN) or, where neither are applicable, a specific category recorded.

As a result of this change, caution should be taken when comparing across years by establishment types.

Children and young people attending school or further education

91.0% of children and young people with an EHC plan attend school or further education.

The largest proportion of children attend a mainstream school; 43.3% of all children and young people with an EHC plan in 2024, slightly higher than in 2023 when the figure was 41.3%. 32.3% attend a special school, 14.6% attend further education and 0.8% attend state-funded alternative provision (including pupil referral units).

Children and young people not attending school or further education

Of the 9.0% children and young people with an EHC plan not attending a school:

• 3.7% of children and young people were educated elsewhere (including other arrangements made by LAs and parents, and elective home education).
• 2.7% of all young people with an EHC plan, were recorded as not in education, employment or training (NEET). This is slightly higher than in 2023 when the figure was 2.3%. 
• 0.8% of children were in non-maintained early years settings. 

The setting was not known for 1.2% of children and young people, which is lower than in 2023. This indicates that recording has improved. Some settings may therefore show increases as a result of this improvement. 

New EHC plans in the calendar year

The number of new EHC plans has continued to increase

84,400 new EHC plans were reported to have started during the 2023 calendar year, an increase of 17,700 (26.6%) when compared to 2022. 

As this data collection is only in its second year, we expect the quality of data returns to improve over time as the collection becomes established. With regards to new EHC plans in particular, we have seen a large increase compared to last year’s figures. Based on historic data trends, we expect some of this increase to be reflective of the number of new plans, however some is expected to be as a result of improved data quality and coverage. The Department confirmed with LAs who indicated a large percentage increase of new plans in their latest data collection to ensure their latest data was correct and more accurate than the previous year’s return. For more information on data quality, please see the methodology.

Almost half of new plans continue to be for ages 5 to 10

Almost half (44.1%) of new plans were made for those aged 5 to 10, this equates to 37,300 new plans. Under 5s and those aged 11 to 15 account for approximately a quarter each of new plans. This is similar to previous years.

The majority of new EHC plans issued are to males

68.2% of children and young people with a new EHC plan issued during 2023 are male and 31.8% are female.

From the 2024 collection, gender has been replaced by sex in this data collection. For publication purposes the historical gender variable and the new sex variable have been conflated into a single time series. Please see the methodology for more details.

Of children and young people with a new EHC plan, 68.7% are white, with 63.8% recorded as ‘English/Welsh/Scottish/Northern Irish/British’. 7.3% were Asian/Asian British, and 5.4% were Black/African/Caribbean/Black British. These percentages vary little from the 2022 calendar year.

Just over 10.6% of children and young people with a new EHC plan have an unknown ethnicity. This includes where the ethnicity is not known to the local authority, is not recorded or data could not be provided. 

Historic data on gender and ethnicity is available for school pupils with EHC plans in the Special educational needs in England publication.

Number of new plans by establishment type

The method for collecting data on establishments changed in 2023. Full time series up to and including the 2021 calendar year are still available within the data that can be downloaded from this publication, or via the table tool.

Previously, local authorities provided data on the number of new EHC plans where the child or young person was attending through a set list of establishment types. From the 2023 data collection onwards, information on the specific establishment has been recorded, with either the Unique Reference Number (URN), UK Provider Reference Number or where neither are applicable, a specific category recorded.

As a result of this change, caution should be taken when comparing across years by establishment types.

Children and young people attending school or further education

90% of children and young people with a new EHC plan starting during the calendar year 2023 attend school or further education.

Most attend a mainstream school; 74.9% of children and young people with a new EHC plan in 2023, higher than in 2022 when the figure was 72.1%. 10.5% attend a special school, a decrease from 12.5% in 2022. 

In addition, 2.8% of children and young people with a new EHC plan attend further education and 1.6% attend attend state-funded alternative provision academies (including pupil referral units).

Children and young people not attending school or further education

Of the 10% of children and young people with a new EHC plan which started during the 2023 calendar year who are not attending school or further education:

• 3.9% were in non-maintained early years settings. 
• 3.1% of children and young people were educated elsewhere (including other arrangements made by LAs and parents, and elective home education).
• 0.6% of all young people with an EHC plan, were recorded as not in education, employment or training (NEET).

The setting was recorded as unknown for 2.1% of children and young people, which is lower than in 2023. This indicates an improvement in data quality. Some settings may therefore show increases as a result of this improvement.

Requests and assessments

A parent, young person, or a person acting on behalf of a school or post-16 institution can ask their local authority to carry out an assessment if they think a child or young person needs an EHC plan. 

As this data collection is only in its second year, we expect the quality of data returns to improve over time as the collection becomes established. For more information on data quality, please see the methodology.

The number of initial requests for assessment continues to increase

There were 138,200 initial requests made for assessment for an EHC plan during 2023, up from 114,500 in 2022. This is an increase of 20.8%, slightly lower than the increase (22.7%) seen between the calendar years 2021 and 2022.  

Of the 138,200 requests for assessment, 24.0% were refused, an increase from 22.1% in 2022.

Once a request for assessment has been approved, an assessment is undertaken and a decision on whether or not to issue a plan is made.

The figures below include all assessments during the calendar year, including where a decision to issue a plan has been made, but the plan has not yet started. Prior to reporting year 2023, this only included  cases where a decision to issue a plan had been made and the new plan had started. Therefore, the figures do not match those for new plans in the section above. Around 1,200 decisions to issue were made where a new plan has not yet started during 2023. 

The number of assessments for an EHC plan which were completed during the calendar year increased

There were 90,500 assessments completed during 2023. Of these, 85,900 (94.9%) resulted in a decision to issue a plan, of which 98.3% started during the calendar year 2023. There were 4,600 assessments (5.1%) where it was decided not to issue an EHC plan, slightly lower than in 2022 (5.9%).

The map below shows the percentages for initial requests refused, assessments that resulted in a plan and assessments where a decision was made not to issue a plan, for each local authority for the 2020 to 2023 calendar years.

Timeliness - EHC plans issued within 20 weeks

The whole process of EHC needs assessment and EHC plan development, from the point when an assessment is requested (or a child or young person is brought to the local authority’s attention) until any final EHC plan is issued, must take no more than 20 weeks. The relevant legislation provides for exceptions to the time limits in certain situations.

In the figures presented, the calculation is based on assessments where the decision to issue a plan was reported as ‘Yes’, the date of that outcome was within the 2023 calendar year, and the request for assessment or the decision to assess was not subject to mediation or a tribunal.

For the purposes of this data collection, the 20-week period (or 140 calendar days) does not include the day of receipt of the request and ends with the date on which the local authority sends the parents of the child or the young person the final EHC plan.

The percentage of EHC plans issued within 20 weeks has slightly increased from 2022

Of those plans where a decision to issue a new plan was within the 2023 calendar year, 50.3% were issued within the twenty week time limit. This is a slight increase from 49.2% in 2022. These figures exclude cases where exceptions apply.

Mediation and tribunals

Following the decision to proceed with an assessment or following the assessment of needs of a child or young person, if the local authority decides not to issue an EHC plan, or if parents/carers disagree with the educational provision set out in the EHC plan, they would be able to appeal to the First-tier Tribunal (Special Educational Needs and Disability). They then decide whether they want to go to mediation or proceed to the First-tier Tribunal, part of the Health, Education and Social Care Chamber within the First-tier Tribunal. 

Mediation cases are defined as the number of mediation meetings that have occurred, regardless of whether the case then went to Tribunal. A mediation meeting is one in which the mediator, parents/carers or young person and the local authority met to discuss the case. 

Tribunal cases include where the parents or young person decided not to take part in mediation before tribunal.

More information about the Tribunal can be found at: First-tier Tribunal (Special Educational Needs and Disability) - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) . 

Statistics covering the First-tier Tribunal (Special Educational Needs and Disability) are published by the Ministry of Justice and can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/tribunals-statistics

Data has been collected since the 2022 calendar year on the reason for mediation and appeals to tribunal. Previously a single total of cases that were subject to mediation or appeal to tribunal was collected. Data is collected on appeals to tribunal, this differs from the tribunal statistics referred to above, which counts all tribunals that were heard.  

Figures on mediation and tribunals are not comparable to previous years. During the 2023 data collection, a number of mitigations were allowed to assist local authorities with completing the data return. This included making information on mediation and tribunals voluntary. This mitigation was removed for the 2024 collection hence a much higher number of mediations have been recorded and the figure cannot be compared to earlier years.

During the 2023 calendar year, a total of 10,300 mediation cases were reported. In addition to mediation, 6,300 appeals to tribunal were reported. This includes:

• 7,500 mediation cases, and 3,400 tribunal cases, following the decision as to whether to proceed with an assessment.
• 1,500 mediation cases, and 1,000 tribunal cases, following the decision as to whether to issue a plan.
• 1,300 mediation cases, and 1,900 tribunal cases, for other reasons, including the special educational provision set out in the plan.

Personal Budgets

An optional personal budget is an amount of money identified by the local authority to deliver provision set out in an EHC plan where the parent or young person is involved in securing that provision. See the SEND code of practice: 0 to 25 for further information on personal budgets. 

Data on personal budgets was provided by 141 out of 153 local authorities in 2024, similar to the proportion that provided data last year. Figures have not been scaled to account for missing data.

There were 18,300 plans reported by local authorities to have a personal budget in place in 2023, slightly lower than in 2022 when the figure was 18,900. Of those personal budgets, 89.9% were reported to have direct payments for social care, 12.6% had direct payments for education and 1% had direct payments for health.

Ceased plans

In reporting year 2023, the department began to collect data on the reason for cessation for all EHC plans that have ceased in the calendar year. Prior to this data was collected on plans that ended for certain specific reasons and only for pupils of compulsory school age. It was not collected for all children and young people whose plan has ceased. As such, there is a break in the time series between 2022 and 2023. The data shown here only includes that collected from 2023 onwards. Data for years prior to this can be found in earlier publications. 

As this data collection is only in its second year, we expect the quality of data returns to improve over time as the collection becomes established. For more information on data quality, please see the methodology.

In 2023, a total of 39,400 EHC plans were reported to have ceased. This includes where the local authority no longer maintains the EHC plan due to the plan transferring to another local authority. The total number of plans which ceased represented 6.8% of all plans, a similar proportion to 2022. 

The most common reason reported for a plan to cease was that the young person no longer wishes to engage in education or training, this accounted for 15,100 (38.2%) ceased plans, a higher percentage than in 2022 (33.8%). The next most common reason was a transfer to other local authorities, this accounted for 11,200 plans (28.5%).  

There were 3,300 (8.4%) plans which ceased as the ongoing educational or training needs were being met without an EHC plan and 1,900 (4.9%) which ceased as the young person had transferred to higher education. A further 3,500 (8.8%) plans ceased as the young person moved on to paid employment excluding apprenticeships.

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Methodology

Find out how and why we collect, process and publish these statistics.

• Education, health and care plans

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If you have a specific enquiry about Education, health and care plans statistics and data:

School Census Statistics team

Email: sen.statistics@education.gov.uk
Contact name: Special Educational Needs statistics lead

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