West Suffolk MP Matt Hancock tells House of Commons of ‘unjust allocation of diagnoses’ within SEND system

The MP for West Suffolk has said inequalities in special needs diagnoses is a ‘silent scandal’ that must be dealt with.

Matt Hancock, a former health secretary, told Parliament yesterday there’s ‘an unjust allocation of diagnoses’ within the special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) system.

He argued that children from wealthier families are better off than those who can’t afford to pay for a diagnosis.

Mr Hancock, who was diagnosed with dyslexia aged 18, has set up the Accessible Learning Foundation to improve early identification of neurodivergent children.

Speaking at the debate into SEND provision and funding, he said: “Here there is a bigger social injustice, and it needs to be named and then it needs to be dealt with, and that is that there is a silent scandal of access to diagnosis.

“Now I come at this from the point of view of dyslexia. I am dyslexic and it is the area I am most expert in.”

The former vice president of the British Dyslexia Association, who was diagnosed with dyslexia after he left school, added: “The truth is that in the most affluent decile there are parents who can pay the £600 for diagnosis outside of the state system and there are more parents who are articulate and able to fight, go to their MP, go to the council and make the case.”

Mr Hancock told MPs that according to a London School of Economics report published in November last year, 15 per cent of children with specific learning difficulties are in the most affluent decile and six per cent are in the most deprived.

He said: “This cannot reflect reality. It is simply not true that 15% of those in the most affluent decile might have specific learning difficulties and only 6% in the most deprived.”

During the debate, Mr Hancock also drew attention to Suffolk being underfunded for education, due to the local funding formula still being based on historic spending.

Suffolk is a member of f40, a campaign for fairer funding in all areas of education, including primary and secondary schools, early years, 16-19, and high needs up to age 25.

Mr Hancock was among MPs in support of f40 who called on Chancellor Jeremy Hunt last year to deliver:

- significant additional baseline High Needs funding;

- substantial additional SEND capital funding;

- and the removal of historic inequalities in the National Funding Formula, which means some schools receive far less funding per pupil than others.

However, former Bury St Edmunds headteacher Geoff Barton, speaking as general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said they were ‘bitterly disappointed that the Autumn Statement contained barely a mention of education’.