Children with special needs in England are less likely to receive support if they are in disadvantaged areas or attend academy schools, according to a study that warns of a “postcode lottery”. The study of primary schoolchildren who reached year six found that the main barrier to support was inconsistent approaches among schools and regions in how they identify children as having special education needs and disabilities (Send). The children least likely to be identified were among the most vulnerable, including those who had suffered abuse or neglect, who were frequently absent from school or who had moved around a lot, the researchers from the Education Policy Institute (EPI) observed. “This report exposes the erratic and unequal way in which support for pupils with special educational needs is provided,” said David Laws, a former schools minister and executive chairman of the EPI. “With the pandemic acting as a further barrier to assessing children’s needs, the government must drastically improve its efforts to ensure that it is reaching the most vulnerable children in society.” The report calls for reforms to improve the way Send is assessed within schools, including specialist training for teachers and school leaders, a national standards framework, a stronger funding system and targeting of less visible children. The research found that children with severe needs living in areas in England with few academy schools were 10 times more likely to be identified with Send by their local authority than similar children living in areas with many academy schools. The report – which is the first to quantify national variation in Send support – found that local authorities tended to identify children as Send based on their personal, social and emotional development, an approach which the authors recommended that schools adopt rather than focusing on communication and literacy skills. “For many years families have highlighted flaws and inconsistencies in the system of identifying children with special educational needs,” said Jo Hutchinson, the report’s author. Hutchinson said it was unclear why Send identification rates differed in academies, though possible reasons may include “highly variable” Send training for teachers as well as a funding system that is “complex and often difficult to navigate”. More than one million children are registered with special needs or disabilities in England, encompassing four in 10 of all pupils during their time at school. Kevin Courtney, joint general secretary of the National Education Union, said the report raised questions around the government’s plans to foster more competition between schools and to expand the role of multiacademy trusts in local Send support. “It is an impact of the systemic cuts to Send funding that local authorities in the most disadvantaged areas are found in the report to have been forced to ration support for the children with greatest need. This report reminds us we need a properly funded Send system,” he said. Judith Blake, chair of the Local Government Association’s children and young people board, said: “Councils are struggling to meet the ever-increasing demand for Send support and are building up deficits in their high needs budgets. This is not sustainable and will ultimately impact on other services. “The government needs to urgently complete its positive ongoing review of the Send system. This needs to set out reforms that increase mainstream inclusion, provide councils with long-term certainty of funding to meet immense demand for Send support, and give councils the power to hold academies to account if their provision for identifying and supporting children with Send is not adequate.” A Department for Education spokesperson said: “Despite the important reforms introduced to improve support for young people with special educational needs and disabilities, 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.”