Â鶹ԼÅÄ

Families seeking support for children with special educational needs face a "postcode lottery", a report suggests.

Children from the poorest areas are less likely to get help than those in more affluent areas, the Education Policy Institute (EPI) think tank says.

Pupils have missed out on support due to remote learning and those in academy schools were less likely to be identified as needing support, it adds.

The Department for Education said the system needed to be more consistent.

It added that the government had increased funding to £8bn in 2021-22.

The EPI study tracked the experiences of hundreds of thousands of pupils from a single year group through primary school.

The report it found "deeply concerning" inconsistencies in how children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) in England have been identified and supported. More than a million children currently have special educational needs in England.

Children living in the most disadvantaged areas of the country were less likely to be formally recognised as having special needs than similar pupils in more affluent areas, researchers say. They said it highlighted how there was a "rationing of support" in many areas of need.

Many of the most vulnerable children - such those who have suffered abuse or neglect or those frequently out of school - were less able to get support for more complex needs.

The report says the pandemic was likely to have exacerbated pre-existing problems with the system. With many children not in school and with growing delays, increasing numbers of vulnerable pupils were likely to have missed out on support.

"It is especially concerning that many of the most disadvantaged children with unstable home lives are less likely to access support for more complex learning needs", said David Laws, executive chairman of the EPI.

"The government must drastically improve its efforts to ensure that it is reaching the most vulnerable children in society."

Pupils at academy schools - state-funded schools, which are independent from local authorities - are half as likely to be identified and given help than similar pupils in other schools, it said.

For children with more severe needs, those living in areas with very few academy schools are 10 times more likely to be identified with SEND by their local authority than similar children living in areas that have many academy schools.

Academy schools "may be overlooking pupils who require SEND support", the study said. But with limited data available, further research on SEND identification in academies was needed, it added.

The report contains a number of recommendations including more specialist training and support for teachers and a funding system that is far more responsive to pupils' needs.

The ASCL head teachers' union leader, Geoff Barton, urged caution before jumping to conclusions.

He said it was "an extremely complex educational landscape", adding: "Everybody in the school system - in whatever type of school or area - is utterly committed to correctly identifying SEND and providing the support that children require.

"Schools have not been helped by the fact that government funding for this support has not matched the level of need, and that the SEND funding system is byzantine in its complexity."

A spokesperson for the Department for Education said it had boosted high needs funding by nearly a quarter, to £8bn in 2021-22.

"We know that despite the important reforms introduced to improve support for young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), the system is not working for every pupil - that's why our SEND Review is looking at how to make sure it is consistent all over the country, high quality, and integrated across education, health and care."