{"id":242567,"date":"2026-02-27T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-02-27T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/schoolsweek.co.uk\/?p=242567"},"modified":"2026-02-27T13:01:37","modified_gmt":"2026-02-27T13:01:37","slug":"ministers-rallying-cry-for-expert-send-staff-to-return","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/schoolsweek.co.uk\/ministers-rallying-cry-for-expert-send-staff-to-return\/","title":{"rendered":"Minister’s rallying cry for expert SEND staff to return"},"content":{"rendered":"\n


The schools minister has issued a rallying cry for expert SEND professionals who quit their jobs to return and staff the \u00a31.8 billion \u201cexperts at hand\u201d service. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Georgia Gould pledged staff such as educational psychologists will have \u201cring-fenced\u201d time on the frontline in schools, rather than \u201cspending all their time doing form filling and administrative work\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The new experts at hand service aims to boost availability of external support. Schools can then draw from a pool of education and health professionals to fix the current \u201cinconsistent and limited access\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Department for Education has said it expects that by April 2029, the average primary school will benefit from 40 days of help a year, rising to 160 days for secondary schools. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, with chronic staff shortages, school leaders are questioning where the staff will come from in an already stretched system.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Gould<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Speaking to\u00a0Schools Week<\/em>, Gould said: \u201cWe have a really strong message to those people who have left the profession and moved out of these roles. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“What they often say to me is the reason they have is they\u2019re spending all their time doing form filling and administrative work, and not actually intervening to help children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cUnder this new system, this support will be ring-fenced to do the actual intervention, to be out in classrooms.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She added: \u201cThat is what a lot of these professionals got into the job to do. So we will be asking them to come back and support these efforts.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gould said the government expected the scheme would involve 7,500 experts. When asked for more information on this figure, the DfE said it was a modelling assumption based on the average salaries for support staff, speech and language therapists, occupational therapists and EPs. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Staff shortages<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

EPs play a fundamental role in assessing the needs of pupils for education, health and care plans. But a government report previously found they were stuck in a \u201cvicious cycle\u201d preventing early intervention work. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Analysis by\u00a0Schools Week<\/em>\u00a0suggests the number of EPs employed by councils has not kept up with workload demands in recent years. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

While there has been a 20 per cent rise in full-time equivalent EPs since 2020-21, the number of EHCPs has jumped by 48 per cent. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Councils can also pay private EPs to help \u2013 but day rates can vary between \u00a3350 and \u00a31,000, research has found.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The local government ombudsman has warned the shortage was having a \u201csignificant impact\u201d on councils\u2019 ability to meet SEND needs. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ministers are aware of the challenge and had invested more than \u00a331 million to recruit 200 EP trainees a year on to three-year doctorate courses. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Schools white paper: The key SEND reform policies<\/a><\/blockquote>