Inequalities in support for special educational needs by ethnicity
About 2 mins
Key points
- Pupils from an Irish Traveller background (9%) and pupils from Black Caribbean backgrounds (7%) are more likely to have education, health and care (EHC) plans than children from other ethnic backgrounds.
- Pupils from Irish Traveller backgrounds are more than four times as likely (26%) to receive special educational needs (SEN) support as pupils from a Chinese background (6%).
Education plays an important role in shaping people’s health by influencing factors such as income and employment. In turn, these provide the resources people need to maintain good health, such as access to nutritious food and safe housing. It can also support better health literacy, making it easier for people to understand health information and allow more informed health choices as a result.
Children with special educational needs and disabilities may need additional support with their education. Unfortunately, not all eligible children are able to access this support and there is significant variation in access depending on their school and local authority.
This chart shows the percentage of pupils in England receiving support for special educational needs by ethnicity in 2024/25.
- Pupils of Chinese ethnicity are the least likely to have an EHC plan (2.4%) or receive SEN support (5.6%).
- Pupils of Irish Traveller heritage are the most likely to have an EHC plan (9.1%) or receive SEN support (25.9%).
- A child is defined as having special educational needs (SEN) if he or she ‘has a learning difficulty or disability which calls for special education provision to be made for him or her’ (Section 20 Children and Families Act 2014).
- SEN support is the first level of support provided to children with special educational needs and is funded by school budgets.
- Children and young people aged up to 25 may have an education, health and care (EHC) plan if they need more support than is available through SEN support. EHC plans are funded by school budgets, as well as local authorities and parents.
- Data includes all pupils in state-funded nursery, primary, secondary and special schools, non-maintained special schools and state-funded alternative provision schools.
Source: Department for Education, Special educational needs in England, 2025
