Special educational needs in England
Pupils in England with SEN support or an education, health and care (EHC) plan . Including type of need, age, sex, free school meals (FSM) and ethnicity.
- Published
Headline facts and figures
Pupils with an EHC plan
538,547
pupils in schools in England. Up by 11.6% from 2025
What is this EHC plan number?
Number of all pupils in England with an education, health and care (EHC) plan. This includes all state-funded nursery, primary, secondary and special schools, non-maintained special schools, pupil referral units and independent schools.
EHC plan (percent)
6.0%
percent of pupils with an EHC plan. Up from 5.3% in 2025
What is this EHC plan percent?
Percentage of all pupils in England with an education, health and care (EHC) plan. This includes all state-funded nursery, primary, secondary and special schools, non-maintained special schools, pupil referral units and independent schools.
Pupils with SEN support/SEN without an EHC plan
1,319,780
pupils in schools in England. Up by 2.8% from 2025
What is this SEN support number?
The number of pupils in England with SEN support. This includes all state-funded nursery, primary, secondary and special schools, non-maintained special schools, pupil referral units and independent schools.
SEN support/SEN without an EHC plan (percent)
14.8%
percent of pupils with SEN support. Up from 14.2%
What is this SEN support percent?
The percentage of pupils in England with SEN support. This includes all state-funded nursery, primary, secondary and special schools, non-maintained special schools, pupil referral units and independent schools.
Over 1.8 million pupils in England have special educational needs (SEN)
This is an increase of 91,400 (5.2%) pupils since 2025 and includes pupils with an education, health and care plan (EHC) plan and pupils with SEN support. The increasing trend has continued since 2016.
- The percentage of pupils with an EHC plan has increased to 6.0%, from 5.3% in 2025.
- The percentage of pupils with SEN support (no EHC plan) has increased to 14.8%, from 14.2% in 2025.
The most common type of need for those with an EHC plan is autistic spectrum disorder, and for those with SEN support is speech, language and communication needs.
Pupils with special educational needs in schools
The number and percentage of pupils with SEN has continued to rise
The number of pupils with an EHC plan increased by 11.6% between 2025 and 2026 to 538,500, and has more than doubled since 2016. The number of pupils with SEN support has increased by 2.8% from 2025 to 2026, and by 33.0% since 2016. Since 2016, the total pupil population increased by 4.2%, meaning that there are now proportionally more pupils with an EHC plan or SEN support.
There are now 6.0% of pupils with an EHC plan, and 14.8% pupils with SEN support, continuing the increasing trend since 2016. Prior to 2016, the rate had remained steady at 2.8% (opens in new tab). This increase is consistent with local authority data on the number of EHC plans for all children and young people.
Pupils with an EHC plan account for an increasing proportion of pupils with SEN; 29.0% of pupils in 2026, up from 19.3% in 2016.
Local authority data on EHC plans is published in the Education, health and care plans publication, which includes all children and young people to age 25 with EHC plans, and those not captured in this publication in non-maintained early years provision, further education, home education or not in education, employment or training.
The proportion of pupils with SEN has increased in all school phases
- In nursery, 19.1% of pupils have an EHC plan or SEN support, an increase from 18.8% in 2025.
- In primary, 19.4% have an EHC plan or SEN support, an increase from 18.2%.
- In secondary, 17.6% have an EHC plan or SEN support, an increase from 16.5%.
- In state-funded Alternative Provision (AP), 84.9% have an EHC plan or SEN support, an increase from 83.4%.
- In independent schools, including independent special schools, 26.3% have an EHC plan or SEN support, an increase from 24.1%.
The number of pupils with SEN in AP schools has increased, this is largely driven by the increase in pupils with an EHC plan (up from 26.3% to 30.7%), whereas the proportion of pupils with SEN support has decreased from 57.1% to 54.2%.
The percentage of all pupils with an EHC plan who are in mainstream schools (state-funded primary and secondary) has increased from 56.2% to 57.8% in 2026, which continues the trend since 2018.
Primary type of need
Primary and secondary type of need are recorded in the school census and are available for state-funded nursery, primary, secondary and special schools, non-maintained special schools and state-funded AP schools. Data on type of need is not available for independent schools or general hospital schools and are therefore not included in totals in this section.
The most common type of need among pupils with an EHC plan is autistic spectrum disorder (ASD)
One in three pupils with an EHC plan are identified with a primary need of ASD (33.5%) and over one in five have a primary need of speech, language and communications needs (22.1%).
The most common type of need among pupils with SEN support are speech, language and communication needs
The primary need identified for one in four pupils is speech, language and communication needs (25.7%). This is followed by social, emotional and mental health needs (24.8%) and moderate learning difficulty (13.8%) .
These trends are similar to previous years.
Pupil characteristics
Information on the characteristics of pupils with SEN are recorded in the school census and are available for state-funded nursery, primary, secondary and special schools, non-maintained special schools and state-funded AP schools. Data is not available for independent schools or general hospital schools and are therefore not included in totals in this section.
SEN is most prevalent at age 10
The percentage of pupils who have SEN support increases during primary school age, reaching a peak of 17.7% of pupils at age 10. This then steadily declines through secondary ages, to 14.0% at age 15. This continues to decrease after compulsory school age.
The percentage of pupils with an EHC plan also increases during primary school age, from 3.6% at age 4, to a slightly later peak of 6.9% at age 11 before slightly declining to 6.4% at age 15. The proportion continues to decrease after compulsory school age.
SEN continues to be more prevalent in males than females
The majority of SEN pupils are male (70.7% of pupils with an EHC plan, 60.4% of pupils with SEN support) but the proportion of pupils with SEN who are female has been growing in recent years.
Pupils with SEN are more likely to be eligible for free school meals
The percentage of all pupils eligible for free school meals has increased since the introduction of transitional protections which will continue to be in place during the roll out of Universal Credit. This has meant that pupils eligible for free school meals on or after 1 April 2018 retain their free school meals eligibility even if their circumstances change. In January 2026, 26.5% of pupils were eligible for free school meals, compared to 13.6% in 2018.
45.3% of pupils with an EHC plan and 39.8% of pupils with SEN support are eligible for free school meals. This compares to 22.7% of pupils with no identified SEN.
Pupils with SEN have higher rates of first language being English than the general school population
84.2% of pupils with an EHC plan and 83.9% of pupils with SEN support have a first language known to be or believed to be English. This is similar to the previous year, and compares to 76.4% of all pupils in schools with no identified SEN.
SEN is most prevalent in the Traveller of Irish heritage ethnic group
26.6% of pupils recorded as Traveller of Irish heritage ethnic group had SEN support in 2026, and a further 10.4% had an EHC plan. The lowest rate for SEN is in the Chinese ethnic group; 5.8% of pupils in this ethnic group had SEN support and 2.6% had an EHC plan.
Further information on Special Educational Needs, combining pupil characteristics such as ethnicity, FSM, national curriculum year, sex and primary need can be found in the data catalogue, or you can create your own tables using the table tool .
This is the second year that the figures have been published in this format, the time series contains four academic years from 2022/23 to 2025/26.
SEN units and resourced provisions
SEN units are special provisions within a mainstream school where the pupils with SEN are taught within separate classes for at least half of their time. SEN units:
- are designated by the local authority specifically for making SEN provision, and sometimes accommodate pupils registered at other schools on a part-time basis
- receive funding of £6,000 or £10,000 per place, and usually top-up funding for any additional costs of support required by individual pupils
- cater for a specific type or types of SEN (for example autistic spectrum disorder)
- are usually for pupils with an EHC plan (but may also provide support for pupils with SEN support).
Schools should only use this indicator where the SEN unit has been formally recognised as such by the local authority where the school is located.
Resourced provisions are places that are reserved at a mainstream school for pupils with a specific type of SEN, taught for at least half of their time within mainstream classes, but requiring a base and some specialist facilities around the school. Resourced provisions:
- are designated by the local authority specifically for making this kind of SEN provision
- receive funding of £6,000 or £10,000 per place, and usually top-up funding for any additional costs of support required by individual pupils
- cater for a specific area or areas of SEN (for example specific learning difficulties)
- are usually for pupils with an EHC plan, but could include pupils with SEN support.
Schools should only use this indicator where the resourced provision has been formally recognised as such by the local authority where the school is located.
Most pupils placed in units will have an EHC plan. It is unlikely that a child would be placed in a unit and also receive support from resourced provision, but a school could have resourced provision for one type of need and a unit for another.
Number of SEN units and resourced provisions has increased
In January 2026, there were 514 schools in England with SEN units, an increase from 449 in 2025. There were 1,309 schools with a resourced provision, a slight increase from 1,217 in 2025.
Full information on SEN units and resourced provisions is available in the school level underlying data file that accompanies this release.
Contact us
If you have a specific enquiry about Special educational needs in England statistics and data:
Special educational needs statistics team
Email: sen.statistics@education.gov.ukContact name: Ricardo Hayward
Press office
If you have a media enquiry:
Telephone: 020 7783 8300
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If you have a general enquiry about the Department for Education (DfE) or education:
Phone: 0370 000 2288
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