Guest blog by Nicole Sherwood
For families, choosing the right care and education for their child is essential. Children and young people with SEND deserve to thrive and have the same opportunities as their peers.
Navigating SEND support and specialist provision can feel overwhelming, especially when it comes to understanding who is involved in the process and how pressures on SEND services affect families.
Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCPs) are legal documents which set out the support that children and young people with SEND are entitled to. According to UK government figures, 718,838 EHCPs were active as of January 2026, driving higher demand for SEND support and specialist provision.
For some families, particularly where existing education provision does not meet their child’s needs, home education or other forms of alternative provision may be an option. Understanding the options available can help families make informed decisions about their child’s education and support.
In this blog, we explore the challenges facing the SEND system and how this affects SEND families.
The current challenges facing SEND services and what they mean for families
The SEND process is full of challenges and obstacles for families exacerbated by delays, a lack of sufficient support and rising numbers of EHCPs. Today, more than ever, children and young people with SEND face learning difficulties or disabilities which can make learning harder than it is for others their age.
Greater awareness and improved understanding of conditions such as autism and ADHD mean that more children are being identified as having SEND than was previously the case.
Whilst identifying needs is a good thing, it has also meant that more families are waiting for specialist support and SEND provision, creating a backlog of assessments, support and specialist provision.
According to the UK government, between January 2025 and January 2026, there was a 12.5% increase in the number of children with EHCPs. This was the highest year-on-year increase since EHC plans were introduced in 2014.
Although local authorities are legally required to respond to requests for an EHC plan assessment within 20 weeks, some parents have said their plans have taken much longer than the statutory 20-week timeframe.
Long waits for EHCPs and diagnoses can come too late to have an impact, which can have a knock-on effect in other areas of a child’s life. Many families feel like they must compete for limited support, endure long delays, and enter costly legal disputes to get the provision their child needs. As a result, parents can often feel abandoned, disrespected and forced to fight for the help their children are entitled to.
Some parents have been finding alternative ways to ensure their child has access to SEND services and the support they need to feel accepted, included and encouraged. Home education is one of several approaches that some families may explore when seeking the right education and support for their child.
Practical guidance on navigating SEND support and specialist provision
To ensure that children with SEND can progress and transition successfully into adulthood, families need access to the right support and specialist provision at the right time. This is especially important for home educating families, who may need to navigate different routes to access appropriate support and educational opportunities for their child.
Navigating SEND support and specialist provision involves finding the right approach to help each child learn, develop and progress. One educational route isn’t better than the other as what works for one child may not work for another. Understanding the available options helps families make informed choices that match their child’s needs.
For some families, home education may offer greater flexibility when a traditional school environment isn’t meeting their child’s needs or when they would benefit from a more personalised pace of learning.
For families with an EHCP, understanding the support and outcomes set out in the plan can help when considering the most appropriate provision. Families can work with local authorities and other professionals to identify whether the support available meets their child’s needs and whether specialist or alternative provision may be appropriate.
For home educating families, it’s important to understand how an EHC needs assessment applies when a child is not attending school. Being home educated does not automatically prevent a child from being considered for an EHC plan, but families may need to provide evidence of the support their child requires.
For some children, the appropriate solution may be a specialist school or college; for others, it might involve tailored education, therapies, support services or a combination of approaches.
Families can find provision where their child can feel supported, included and able to thrive, whether that’s mainstream education, specialist settings, alternative provision, home education, or education otherwise.
Education otherwise means educating a child outside of a traditional school environment. Home education and education otherwise can provide families with greater flexibility through individualised learning and greater parental involvement, while helping reduce pressure for some children.
This approach can better reflect a child’s individual needs, although there are potential challenges around resources, social opportunities and accessing specialist support.
Author bio:
By Nicole Sherwood, Content Writer at specialist SEND recruitment agency, Spencer Clarke Group. [email protected]
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