Report calls for education, health and care plans to be split into three tiers of support. Education, health and care plans (EHCPs) should be restricted to pupils “whose needs sit across all three sectors”, with other levels of plan created for those with one or two needs, a report from the children’s commissioner has said.

However, the report from the office of Dame Rachel de Souza said “no child with an existing plan should lose their plan”, given “just how long and how hard those with existing plans have fought to obtain them”.

The recommendations, set out in a report detailing the outcome of a survey by de Souza’s office of most schools in England, come as the government is finalising its plans to reform the system of support for special educational needs and disabilities