SEMH Need in 2026 is Growing

If you work with children and young people, you are probably already seeing it.

At the same time, demand for formal SEND support continues to grow.

The figures do not tell us that every absence, suspension or difficulty in school is caused by SEMH.

But together, they show why early identification and a better understanding of need matter more than ever.

SEMH need sits within a much wider picture of growing SEND demand, persistent absence and suspension/exclusion.

EHCP demand continues to rise

That is a substantial increase over the last decade.

For professionals in schools and settings, this reflects something already being experienced on the ground: more children requiring support and increasing complexity of need.

But an EHCP is often the end of a much longer journey.

The difficulties that eventually contribute to formal identification may have been visible in school for months or years beforehand.

That makes the period before formal assessment particularly important.

SEMH is already one of the largest areas of identified need

When we look at primary SEND need, social, emotional and mental health difficulties form one of the largest groups, alongside speech, language and communication needs.

For professionals, however, SEMH does not arrive with a label attached.

It may first look like:

Attendance can be part of the picture

Persistent absence becomes particularly striking through the secondary years.

Attendance data cannot tell us why an individual child is absent.

But for professionals, a change in attendance should give us information to explore.

That might involve sensory demands. It might involve relationships. It might involve anxiety, regulation, communication, learning, safety, belonging or experiences outside school.

The attendance figure is the visible outcome. Our job is to understand what may be contributing to it.

Suspensions and exclusions can tell us something too

A similar pattern can be seen in suspension and exclusion data, with rates rising sharply from Year 7 and remaining particularly high through the secondary years.

Again, suspension does not automatically mean SEMH.

But when a child repeatedly reaches the point where they cannot successfully remain in a lesson or school environment, the response cannot stop at the behaviour.

Professionals need space to consider what may sit underneath:

The opportunity is earlier

Too often, the strongest evidence that a child needs help appears once the difficulty has become significant.

But the child’s need did not suddenly appear at that point. Professionals may have been seeing pieces of the picture for a long time.

That is why early identification is not simply about identifying a diagnosis sooner.

It is about helping professionals notice patterns, bring information together and make sense of what they are seeing before difficulties become entrenched.

And that is where our work fits.

How we help professionals

We are building a joined-up system around the child.

Not one assessment. Not one intervention. And not another collection of activities without a clear understanding of why they are being used.

Our aim is to help professionals move through a much more useful process:

Snapshots: identify and prioritise need

Often, professionals already know that a child is struggling.

The harder question is: Where do we start?

Our Snapshots help turn professional observations into a clearer picture of need. They help practitioners and settings:

They are not diagnostic tools. They support professional judgement.

Editable Support Plan linked to area of need and provision of resources and training in the Learning Portal

The Learning Portal: understand what sits underneath

Identification alone is not enough.

Professionals also need the knowledge and confidence to understand why a child may be struggling.

Our Learning Portal brings together professional learning, practical tools, strategies, Learning Journeys and intervention resources through the BOUNCE Approach^®.

BOUNCE encourages professionals to consider six connected areas:

The aim is not more activities. It is better-informed practice.

KidZone: give children different ways to show us

Adults are only one source of information. We also need the child’s perspective.

But children cannot always answer “What’s wrong?” or “How do you feel?”

Some children need to communicate through movement, pictures, play, choices, creativity or interaction rather than direct conversation.

Our free KidZone gives professionals practical tools they can use alongside children to explore experiences including: body signals, regulation, energy, sensory experiences, relationships, worries, safety, belonging, identity and what helps.

KidZone is not an assessment. It creates another route into child voice.

Sometimes what a child shows us gives us information that a direct question never would.

Supporting parents: connect the whole picture

Professionals do not see everything.

A child who appears to cope throughout the school day may fall apart when they get home. A child struggling to enter school may have been distressed for hours beforehand.

Parents may see exhaustion, shutdown, anxiety, sleep difficulties, sensory overwhelm or changes in behaviour that are not visible in the classroom.

Equally, school may be seeing things that are not happening at home.

That is why supporting parents matters too. Helping parents understand regulation, sensory differences, communication and behaviour as communication can create a much more useful conversation between home and school.

One child. A bigger picture.

Growing SEMH need cannot be solved by one professional, one intervention or one service.

But we can get much better at noticing what children are communicating before their difficulties reach crisis point.

Together, they help build a fuller picture around the child.

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