In England, the number of active Education, Health and Care plans increased by 11% over the year, new figures show. This comes as 15.8% more plans were started in 2024 than the year before.
This morning, the Department for Education published its yearly statistical release on Education, Health and Care (EHC) plans.
An Education, Health and Care plan is a benefit for children and young people aged up to 25 who need more support than is available through special educational needs support. Under an assessment, the local authority of residence identifies the applicant’s educational, health and social needs and sets out the additional support to meet those needs.
The release reveals over 638,000 active plans as of January 2025. This is a significant increase from 576,400 the year before.
The increase in active EHC plans follows a rise in the number of plans started during the previous year, at 97,747 starts. This is out of 154,489 EHC assessment requests received by local authorities in England. An additional 44,862 plans were ceased.
The rate of plans issued within the statutory timeframe of 20 weeks has decreased by 3.9% over the year, with only 46.4% of new plans being delivered on time.
The data team at Polimapper has visualised EHC data on the national level, revealing disparities in types of schools in receipt of the plan.
The local authority of Kent saw the highest number of EHC active plans as of January 2025, at 20,635. Conversely, the London Boroughs of Kensington and Chelsea, and Westminster were amongst the authorities with the lowest number of active plans, below 1,500.
In Newham, 77% of EHC plans were active in mainstream schools, highlighting the potential of Newham public schools to meet pupil needs. In Leeds, only 25% of plans were active in mainstream schools, whilst 40% were active in special schools. Explore statistics in your area below.
About this map
The visualisation below shows EHC plan statistics by upper tier local authority and school type in England.
To view statistics in your area, double click on the map or click here to launch the full page visualisation.
Geodata context
As the new figures from the Department for Education show record breaking demand for EHC plans, news sources claim that the system cannot support the demand, with families facing long waits for support and councils building up unmanageable deficits.
Cllr Tim Oliver, chair at the County Councils Network: “Today’s new SEND figures once again demonstrate a system in desperate need of reform. It does not work for anyone: families are facing increasing waits for support, schools do not have the capacity and resources whilst councils are building up unmanageable deficits, having spent colossal sums on support over the last decade.”
“Despite this record expenditure – which importantly is being artificially kept off local authority balance sheets – we recognise that there is widespread dissatisfaction with the system. Councils are facing a deluge of requests for support, so whilst the commitment to reform is important, government can ill-afford to get it wrong.”
“This is why ministers must ensure that reform is comprehensive. It will require significant investment, but reform should enable greater inclusion within mainstream schools, with support more clearly defined. What we are advocating for is not a reduction in entitlement, but instead a system where all children’s needs are supported as close to their home as possible, and those with specific needs supported via specialist help.”