Roughly one in five young people in custody will have been through the SEND assessment process and been allocated an education, health and care plan (EHCP) compared with just three per cent of the child population in general.
However, many young people’s needs – which include learning difficulties, speech, language and communication difficulties, and social, emotional and mental health problems – often go unrecognised, mislabelled and unmet. This is often a factor in their offending behaviour and can harm their ability to engage in education and rehabilitation while in custody.
In fact, analysis of Census figures undertaken by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) shows that 41 per cent of young people who had served a custodial sentence had been assessed as having significant SEND needs while at school or an early years setting between 2003 and 2010.
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