The current government in the UK is trying to get to grips with the crisis in SEND (special educational needs) funding. It is out of control. One reason it is out of control is because of the massive increase in, ahem, “diagnoses”, in recent years. (See below). Another is how the system for getting an EHCP for your child works. An EHCP is a document which states how much support a child is “entitled” to. Under the current system, set up in, I think in 2014, under a Conservative Party + Liberal party coalition government, parents and local authorities fight it out in a tribunal as to what support the local authority is obliged to provide. The decisions of the tribunal do not take into account available budgets. The mind can only boggle that people running a government could think that was going to lead to anything other than chaos and disaster. It has; many local authorities have been effectively bankrupted. In this piece in the Guardian we get a flavour of the parents who push for more support for their ‘hero’ children.
Unfortunately, due to time constraints I can only cobble together some disparate figures. However; the sources are solid. And, I believe, this gives some sense of the total explosion in “special needs”.
ADHD drugging: Research has found that the number of ADHD prescriptions in England increased from around 25 per 1,000 people in 2019/20 to 41.55 in 2023/24 [1] A 62% increase in just 4 years.
ADHD diagnosis. This study reports a 20-fold increase between 2000 and 2018 and a 50-fold increase in ADHD prescriptions in men aged 18-29 [2]
Increase in autism diagnosis: Between 1998 and 2018 there was a seven-fold increase in autism diagnosis. [3]
Rise in EHCPs: An astonishing 5% of school children in the UK now have an EHCP. Note; these plans are not given to all children with special needs; only those deemed to be really “special” and in strong need of complex support packages. Since 2018 numbers have increased from 354,000 to 639,000 (rounded). [4] That is on the way to doubling in just 7 years.
Any debate about special needs funding in the UK should start, (and hopefully end), with a serious and credible investigation of what is happening here. Glib comments about “we are getting better at diagnosing” do not explain much. The key, of course, is that neither autism nor the psychiatric category of “ADHD” are “diagnosed” in any meaningful sense. The label is awarded on the basis of a psychiatrist’s say so. Those who can afford it can, of course, find a tame psychiatrist to provide the needed piece of paper. Because there is no actual medical test, they can do this confident that they can never be accused of faking anything. Of course; it isn’t just private psychiatrists. Just as many GPs are happy to hand out sick notes because they want to make their clients happy, so, I would guess, many NHS psychiatrists are more than willing to hand out “diagnoses”, like confetti. After all; the more “children with ADHD” or autism, the more entrenched their position becomes as demand for their services increases. Other key drivers include:
- An “ADHD diagnosis” can be used to claim lavish state handouts (“PIP”). The increase in PIP claims in recent years has been driven by “mental health” conditions.
- I don’t have figures but I would assume that e.g. autism diagnoses or ADHD can help with claims for other benefits such as carers allowance, (A quick Internet search located a page where an ADHD charity advises people how to claim for this).
- Special exemptions in competitive state exams.
- EHCPs can bring all kinds of perks like free taxi travel to school saving the parents a school run
The above are really just the material and financial drivers. Another key driver, and more complex to analyse, is, (I don’t dispute it), a growing fragility. Problems which previously a person just struggled a bit with, such as social skills, or behaviour, or planning, are now medicalised and fetishized. From a Foucauldian perspective, this is just an extension of disciplinary mechanisms. The new thinking is that these people should not struggle, but the world around them should adapt to them, “support” them. And, of course, there probably is an objective increase in fraught psycho-social functioning. I would start an exploration of this factor by looking at increasing consumerism, materialism, and a break-down in social cohesion, as well as family support networks.
At any event; these are the areas which merit investigation. Simply throwing more money at these wildly expanding numbers is not going to help anyone.
Notes
- https://www.theguardian.com/society/2025/mar/11/adhd-prescriptions-in-england-have-risen-by-18-each-year-since-pandemic
- https://www.nihr.ac.uk/news/significant-rise-adhd-diagnoses-uk
- https://acamh.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jcpp.13505
- https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/education-health-and-care-plans/2025?subjectId=331b359d-bd84-4438-d1e5-08ddada0b65c