• Permanent exclusions of pupils on education, health and care plans (EHCPs) rose from 347 in 2014/15 to 1,198 in 2024/25, with suspensions also at a record for those pupils.
• This is despite an overall fall in permanent exclusions of 9 per cent between 2024/25 and 2023/24, with suspensions down 4 per cent.
• New evidence suggests that the high needs SEND system is creaking under the pressure of surging demand, with the number of children on ECHPs doubling and costs soaring.
• Think tank calls for an end to the medicalisation of behavioural difficulties and an urgent review of behaviour standards in schools.
New data released by the Department for Education (DfE) today shows that a record number of children with education, health and care plans (EHCPs) were excluded in 2024/25.
The number of suspensions of children with EHCPs has surged by 246 per cent from 33,544 in 2014/15 to 116,188 in 2024/25. The suspensions rate has risen by three quarters in the same period up to 26 suspensions per 100 children with an EHCP from 15 in 2014/15.
Across all pupils, there were 9,906 permanent exclusions in 2024/25, down 9 per cent from 10,885 in 2023/24, while suspensions fell by 4 per cent from 954,952 to 913,000.
The rise in exclusions and suspensions among pupils with EHCPs needs comes amid concern risen by leading think tank the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ) that behavioural difficulties are increasingly being medicalised, while putting immense pressure on the systems in place to support children with complex needs and disabilities.
The CSJ’s recent report, Change the Prescription: Update, included polling of 1,000 family doctors. Two in three believed the majority of children referred for autism or ADHD assessments primarily present with behavioural or environmental difficulties, rather than a neurodevelopmental condition.
The same polling found that three in four GPs believe the clinical boundaries for autism and ADHD have expanded to include behaviours previously considered within the normal range, while two in three said diagnoses are being given out too easily where behavioural interventions would be more appropriate.
The polling reflects an explosion in mental health, behavioural and neurodivergent conditions, with the number of pupils with Education, Health and Care Plans (ECHPs) more than doubling since 2015/16 and hitting 640,000 this year. The annual cost of the SEND system (26/27 prices) has spiralled from £8 billion (2015/16) to £15.1 billion (2025/26) over a decade.
Eighty-eight per cent of the rise in school-pupil EHCPs has come from three areas of need: Autistic Spectrum Disorder, Speech, Language and Communication Needs, and Social, Emotional and Mental Health. These now account for over 70 per cent of EHCPs.
The CSJ warned that, despite soaring spending, outcomes have not improved as today’s figures show. We are also seeing rising waiting lists for assessment, and a fall of almost a third in real terms funding per EHCP, and a new market for private assessments which cost an average of around £1,361 for ADHD.
Children from the poorest areas are now up to four times less likely to get an EHCP than those from more affluent areas, despite being more likely to have additional needs.
And the number of children in receipt of support with non-behavioural, learning or ADHD-related disorders – such as those with physical impairments, life-limiting conditions or serious diseases – has actually fallen over the last ten years, despite the overall caseload more than doubling and the under-16 population growing by more than 3 per cent.
The CSJ said exclusion must remain available as an essential protection for teachers and pupils, but warned that too many children with EHCPs are reaching the point of exclusion when earlier support could have changed their path.
The think tank is calling for a reset of support for children with additional needs, and better targeting of specialist support towards children with severe, enduring and complex needs.
Recommendations include:
- Delivering an urgent review of behaviour standards in schools.
- Improving early years support, through frontloading child benefits, making childcare more flexible and moving birth registration to family hubs.
- Boosting benefits for parents of children with the most severe care needs by 10 per cent above inflation to account for the rising costs of living with complex and enduring conditions
- Tightening new child health benefit claims for children where the primary condition is behavioural or ADHD-related to more severe cases, using some of the £1bn annual savings to inject £500 million into Family Hubs to deliver parenting programmes proven to improve emotional and behavioural development
- Reforming the SEND Code of Practice to tighten thresholds, provide mandatory mediation before tribunals, and a new national fiscal sustainability framework to ensure spending reaches the children who need it most.
Daniel Lilley, Head of Youth at the Centre for Social Justice, said:
Despite an encouraging overall decline in exclusions and suspensions, the record number of children with ECHPs being kicked out of school is extremely concerning.
“The broken SEND system is undermining the progress being made. We need better support for vulnerable children to unlock their potential and end disruption in the classroom.
“Children with the most severe needs should be put back at the heart of the system with support focused, benefits for complex and lifelong conditions uprated, and early intervention prioritised.
Notes to editors
The CSJ’s Exclusions Tracker, providing a more detailed analysis of today’s DfE numbers, will be available here later today.
Read the CSJ’s Change the Prescription: Update here.
A CSJ spokesperson is available for interview.
Department for Education figures published today show:
- There were 9,906 permanent exclusions in 2024/25, down by 9 per cent from 10,885 in 2023/24.
- There were 913,000 suspensions in 2024/25, down by 4 per cent from 954,952 in 2023/24.
- Permanent exclusions of pupils with EHCPs rose from 347 in 2014/15 to 1,198 in 2024/25.
- The number of suspensions of children with EHCPs has increased from 33,544 in 2014/15 to 116,188 in 2024/25.
GP polling conducted by Savanta, March 2026, n=1,002 GPs in England:
- 94 per cent say “Compared to five years ago, I am seeing more referrals for suspected autism or ADHD”;
- 66 per cent agree that “clinical diagnoses for autism or ADHD are given out to children and young people too easily where behavioural interventions would be more appropriate”;
- 66 per cent agree that a “majority of children referred for autism or ADHD assessment primarily present with behavioural or environmental difficulties rather than a neurodevelopmental condition”;
- 75 per cent agree that “The clinical boundaries for diagnosing autism or ADHD have expanded to include behaviours that would previously have been considered within the normal range”
- 57 per cent agree that “financial entitlements linked to autism or ADHD diagnoses strongly influence parental requests for assessment”.