The crisis, not in headlines

The Crisis No One Wants to Talk About: Paediatric Assessments, Not EHCPs

There is a lot of noise right now about a so-called SEND crisis. The government is proposing changes in Parliament, with much of the focus falling on EHCPs — how many there are, how much they cost, and how they should be restricted.

But what’s being missed, again and again, is the real crisis:

paediatric consultancy and assessment services within the NHS are completely broken.

EHCPs are being treated as though they are the problem, when in reality they exist to support children whose needs are not being met elsewhere. They are a response to failure — not the cause of it.

Paediatricians, diagnostic teams, and assessment pathways are also meant to be there to help children. But how can they possibly do that when the system is so underfunded and overwhelmed that families are left waiting years just to be seen?

My daughter was referred for an autism assessment in 2020.

It is now 2026 — and we are still waiting.

Five years.

Five years without answers.

Five years without clarity.

Five years without appropriate support being put in place.

Those are five crucial developmental years that you never get back.

Long waiting lists aren’t just inconvenient. They don’t just slow things down. They actively cause harm. Children go without support. Parents are left advocating blindly. Schools are expected to meet complex needs without diagnoses, guidance, or specialist input.

And yet, instead of urgently fixing this, the focus is on reviewing EHCPs — as if reducing access to support will somehow solve the problem.

It won’t.

If the government is serious about addressing pressures within SEND, then the priority should be early identification and timely assessment. That means proper funding for paediatric services, sustainable financial models for NHS assessments, and a workforce that isn’t stretched to breaking point.

EHCPs are not the enemy.

Parents are not exploiting the system.

Children are not asking for too much.

What families are asking for is basic access to healthcare — assessments that happen within a reasonable timeframe, support that arrives before crisis point, and a system that recognises that delay is not neutral. Delay does damage.

So why is this not the priority?

Why are five-year waits for autism assessments acceptable?

Why is this not at the centre of every SEND review?

Until paediatric assessment services are fixed, everything else is just noise.