SEND support should be scaled back to those with highest need, says Jeremy Hunt

Specialist education support and disability benefits for children should be scaled back and offered only to those with the highest need under reforms backed by ex-health secretary Sir Jeremy Hunt.

According to a report from right-wing think-tank Policy Exchange, ministers have been told that councils should not be obliged to fund support for children in mainstream schools with special needs, and the bar must be raised for youths claiming disability benefits.

Hunt has argued that young people are being overdiagnosed with mental health conditions and said the special educational needs (SEND) system must be overhauled.

The report, which is backed by the former minister, argues definitions of mental ill health and neurodivergence have been expanded to the point of overwhelming the sta