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August 2025 - Education

New government data shows a fifth of pupils in England have special educational needs: New government data reveals a record number of pupils in England's schools are receiving support for special educational needs. Latest figures show that over 1.7 million pupils have special educational needs (SEN) in 2025, a 5.6% increase (or 93,700 more pupils) since 2024. This equates to one in five pupils receiving extra support at school. Of these, more than a quarter (482,200) also have an Education, Health and Care plan (EHC) - a legal document designed to support children and young people with SEN and disabilities. 

Data from the Department for Education, analysed in its current form since 2016, combines information from the January (spring) school census (for state-funded schools), the annual school census (for independent schools), and the general hospital school census. It shows that since 2016, the proportion of pupils with SEN and/or an EHC has increased across most school stages. 

The data indicates a slight fall in the number of nursery pupils with an SEN or EHC, from 19.5% in 2024 to 18.8%.  However, all other school stages have seen increases. Nearly a fifth (18.2%) of primary school children now have an SEN or EHC, up from 17.1% in 2024, while the proportion of secondary school pupils has risen to 16.5% (from 15.2% in 2024). 

Furthermore, the data shows that SEN continues to be more commonplace amongst boys than girls. Six out of 10 (61.2%) of pupils with an SEN are male, as are seven out of 10 pupils with an EHC plan. However, despite the prevalence of male pupils with SEN in 2025, there has been a small year-on-year decline in numbers since 2016/2017. In contrast, there has been a small but consistent increase in the volume of female pupils with SEN over the same period (38.8% of female pupils with an SEN or EHC in 2024/25 vs 34.7% in 2016/2017).

According to the statistics, a third (33.6%) of pupils with an EHC plan are identified primarily with autistic spectrum disorder (ASD), while a quarter (25.7%) of pupils requiring SEN support have speech, language, and communication needs as their primary need.  Pupils with social, emotional, and mental health needs constitute 23.6% of the total, making it the third largest group requiring SEN support. 

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