JSNA – People – SEND

Last Updated: January 2026

Special educational needs or disabilities (SEND) can affect a child or young person’s ability to learn. They can affect their:

• physical ability
• behaviour or ability to socialise, for example they struggle to make friends
• reading and writing, for example because they have dyslexia
• ability to understand things
• concentration levels, for example because they have attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)

The SEND JSNA brings together data on special education needs or disabilities in Barnet, including regional and national comparison where possible.

Narrative

Understanding SEN in Barnet

Nationally, the total number of pupils with an Education, Health and Care (EHC) plan increased by 149% between 2015 and 2025. In Barnet the increase was 138% and across London it was 127%.

The proportion of pupils with EHC plans in nurseries, schools and colleges has also increased over time. Nationally, this has increased from 2.8 % in 2015/16 to 5.3% in 2024/25, in London the increase has been from 2.8% to 5.4% and similarly in Barnet the percentage of pupils has increased from 2.6% to 5.1%.

The percentage of school pupils requiring SEN Support has also increased during this period. In Barnet the percentage of pupils accessing SEN support was 10.9% in 2015/16 and is now 11.7% in 2024/25.

The total SEND cohort in Barnet for 2023/24 was 16.8%.

All about EHCPs: resident population

The proportion of children and young people resident in Barnet aged 0-24 inclusive who have an EHC plan is marginally lower than London and national averages. (Barnet 3.40%, London 3.44%, National 3.64%).

This is evidence of the inclusiveness of the local area, and indicates that schools, settings and parent/ carers feel confident that children’s needs can be met without the need for an EHC plan. This is due to the high standard of professional knowledge and expertise in our schools and settings. Barnet currently has the 4th highest rate of mainstream inclusion in England, based on the numbers of children and young people with EHC plans in mainstream settings.

The exceptional level of inclusiveness of schools and settings is also evidenced by the high proportion of children and young people with EHCPs in mainstream schools and settings. At 51% of Barnet EHC plans placed in state-funded mainstream settings (not resourced/unit) provision in 2024, the rate of mainstream inclusion of EHC plans is well above national and London averages.

The percentage of the EHC plan cohort attending a resourced provision or an SEN unit in a mainstream school was 6.5% in 2024. This is a well above the England average of 3.8%.

All about SEN (EHCP and SEN support combined) in schools

In 2024/25 in Barnet, of all children with SEN, whether they have an EHC plan or are supported with SEN support, the cohorts with the highest numbers are:

• Speech, Language and Communication Needs (SLCN) – 22.7%
• Social, Emotional and Mental Health (SEMH) needs – 21.5%, and
• Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD) – 21%.

The same three primary needs are also the most prevalent nationally (Speech, language and communication needs 24.3%; Social, emotional and mental health needs 21.2%; and Autistic spectrum disorder 16.3%.

The proportion of pupils in Barnet who have an Autistic Spectrum Disorder in 2024 is above both national and London averages (21% vs 16.3% and 19.5%).

Understanding SEN in the early years: SEN support and EHCPS

The proportion of the EHC plan cohort under 5 years old decreased to 5.7% in 2024. This is likely to be due to increased confidence of setting to meet the needs of a wider range of children with SEND, without the need for an EHC plan. Settings are supported by a nationally recognised Early Years SEND team.

Children Looked After (CLA), care leavers and SEND

About the CLA cohort as a whole: The rate per 10,000 of CLA in Barnet is below both regional and national averages, however the numbers have increased slightly from 335 to 340 children. The number of unaccompanied asylum-seeking children (UASC) has also increased from 52 to 58. Around 30% of ‘new starts’ (children being brought into care for the first time) are currently UASC.

The table below shows the ethnic composition of the children in care cohort of the 340 children in our care:

Category	CYP population as a whole	All Children Looked After	Non-UASC	UASC
White	51.7%	41%	47%	9%
Mixed	10.8%	20%	24%	2%
Asian or Asian British	17.2%	5%	2%	19%
Black or Black British	9.4%	16%	15%	21%
Other ethnic group	10.9%	14%	9%	41%
Not disclosed	N/A	4%	4%	9%

The data demonstrates that children who are Black/Black British or are of mixed ethnicity are overrepresented amongst the non-UASC CLA, and Asian/Asian British children are underrepresented.

Boys are overrepresented in the CLA cohort for both non-UASC and UASC compared to the overall proportion of boys in the Children and Young People (CYP) population.

At 37.6%, Barnet has a greater proportion of children looked after with EHC plans in 2023/24 than London or national averages (34.1% and 31.9% respectively). There are several factors that affect this:

• 15% of the current CLA have a disability and therefore have complex needs
• 10% of CLA are in residential settings either 38- or 52-weeks residential settings
• Barnet has a strong infrastructure of family help and preventative services. This practice of multi-disciplinary family help means that few families need to access statutory services which has positively impacted on the number of children coming into care who are accessing SEND support.

Transition to adulthood: EHCP and SEN support

The local areas high expectations of for young people as they prepare for adulthood, and independence, is evidenced by a range of measures across post 16.

After KS4 the proportion of EHC plan students remaining in education, employment or training was higher than the England average in 2022/23 (Barnet 91.6%, England 88.4%).

The proportion of SEN Support pupils remaining in education, employment or training was also above England averages in 2022/23 (Barnet 89.1%, England 87.3%).

Barnet had relatively large proportions of both EHCP and SEN Support pupils progressing to a school sixth form or sixth form college. Over a quarter (27.9%) of the EHCP cohort progressed to a sixth form or sixth form college after KS4 in 2022-2023, compared to the England average of 10.9%.

This rate of progression to a sixth form or sixth form college for EHC plan pupils is also high compared to other London local authorities – the regional average of 21.1% is more than 7% points lower than the rate in Barnet.

The proportion of young people with SEND who are qualified to level 2 by the age of 19 is well above London or national averages. This is also the case for the proportions of young people educated to level 3 by the age of 19.

Learning Disability:

The % of adults with a learning disability who live in Barnet who have a health check and health plan completed was 85.8% in 2024/25. This performance is above the national and London averages. This performance has been maintained over the past 2 financial years showing it is a consistently high performing area. 

The % of adults with a learning disability who live in Barnet who in their own home or with their family was 86.4% in 2023/24. This performance is better than the London and England averages of 82.9% and 78.6%. Performance in this metric has improved almost every year since 2011/12 and has been better than comparator averages since 2016/17.

Academic outcomes EHCP and SEN support

Achievement for children and young people with SEN in Barnet is strong in comparison to national at all Key Stages and children identified as requiring SEND support in Barnet made better progress between KS2 and KS4 than children nationally with no recorded SEN.

In Barnet, 5% of EHC plan pupils achieved a Good Level of Development at Early Years Foundation Stage in 2023/24. This was slightly higher than the national average of 4%.

In 2023/24, 32% of EHC plan pupils and 64% of SEN Support pupils met the Year 1 phonics standard, both ranking Barnet in the top quartile of all local authorities in England.

Both the SEN Support and EHC plan cohorts performed well at KS2, with Barnet consistently ranking in the best performing quartile of local authorities in England.

Maths attainment was particularly strong, with 62% of SEN Support pupils in 2023/24 achieving the expected or higher standard, the seventh highest rate in England.

SEN Support and EHC plan pupils also made more progress from KS1 to KS2 than their peers in Barnet’s statistical neighbours and across England, consistently ranking in the top quartile of local authorities in England.

Barnet young people also performed very well across headline KS4 measures for both EHC plan and SEN Support pupils, consistently ranking in the top quintile of local authorities in England.

EHC plan pupils had an average Attainment 8 score of 20.2 in 2023/24, and an average Progress 8 score of -0.59, the 12th highest in England.

The average Attainment 8 and Progress 8 scores for SEN Support pupils both ranked in the top quintile of local authorities in England.

In 2023/24, 12% of EHC plan pupils achieved at least a grade 5 in English and Mathematics in Barnet, which was 5% points above the England average.

Barnet’s EHC plan and SEN Support cohorts also performed well in the English Baccalaureate (EBacc) with attainment rates well above the England averages.

At KS5, the average point score (APS) per academic entry for EHCP students in Barnet in 2023/24 was higher than national and London averages at 33.5 compared to 32.9 (London) and 32.1 (England). For SEN support students, the average point score (APS) per academic entry is similar to the England average and just below the London average at 32.5.

Do you have feedback about the JSNA? A feedback form can be accessed here. Your feedback is valuable to us and we appreciate any comments or suggestions you have about the JSNA.