Hundreds of thousands of children with special needs may no longer get the legal right to extra support at school under plans being considered by ministers.

Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson yesterday refused to say whether she will continue with the current system following a dramatic surge in the number of Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCPs) in recent years.

Holding an EHCP gives a child the legal right to a specific package of support, including one-to-one assistance, specialist equipment and dedicated speech and language therapy.

The number of children with a care plan has risen to 638,000 – up from 240,000 a decade ago.

There were almost 98,000 new EHCPs issued in 2024, a 16 per cent rise on the previous year’s figure.

A report by the National Audit Office last year warned that the system was ‘financially unsustainable’ and risked forcing councils into bankruptcy.

And there are fears the system will become even more overwhelmed if Labour’s VAT on private school fees forces more special needs pupils into the state sector.

Ms Phillipson yesterday said that a review due in the autumn would ensure children would get the ‘support maintained that they need’.

Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson yesterday refused to say whether hundreds of thousands of children with special needs would still get the legal right to extra support at school under plans being considered by ministers

At present holding an Education, Health and Care Plan gives a child the legal right to a specific package of support, including one-to-one assistance, specialist equipment and dedicated speech and language therapy

But she repeatedly refused to say whether they would retain the legal right to extra help guaranteed by the EHCP system.

She told the BBC the situation was ‘tough’ and suggested that more children may have to have their needs met through mainstream education.

She said the current system was ‘too adversarial, it takes too long, it’s too bureaucratic’, adding: ‘I do think we need to just take a step back and think about how do we build a better system that is more timely, more effective and actually maximises support including for children with complex needs.’

The most common type of need is autistic spectrum disorder, at 31.5 per cent of all EHCPs.

The next most common type of need is speech, language and communication needs (21.3 per cent) and social, emotional and mental health (20.7 per cent).