Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what percentage of young people with Education, Health and Care Plans are in employment within six months of leaving education.
Key stage 4 destination measures published by the department show the activity of young people in the academic year after leaving key stage 4 (usually aged 16), including pupils with an education, health and care (EHC) plan. The latest data for state-funded mainstream and special schools shows that 1.5% of pupils with an EHC plan had a sustained employment destination after leaving key stage 4 in 2020, compared with 3.4% of pupils with special educational needs (SEN) support and 2.3% of pupils with no identified SEN.
The attached table includes data on employment destinations as well as other types of activity (education, apprenticeships, not sustained, unknown).
Destination data is also published for students that reached the end of 16 to 18 study in 2020, but it does not include a specific breakdown by EHC plan. In this data, information on SEN eligibility status is based on data recorded by state-funded mainstream schools during 16 to 18 study only, and does not cover the entire cohort of young people studying at post-16, which includes further education colleges. This data is available here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/9ffa5c63-983f-43fd-8160-08daf87133b7.
Sustained participation in employment was counted if there was some participation in at least 5 of the 6 months between October and March of the 2020/21 academic year.