A government-funded speech and language screening initiative found an unexpected proportion of young children have unidentified needs, an evaluation report has said.
The Early Language Support for Every Child (ELSEC) programme was launched jointly in September 2023 by the Department for Education and NHS England.
ELSEC provides funding for “innovative workforce models” aimed at early identification and support for children with speech, language, and communication needs (SLCN).
An interim report evaluating the first full year of the scheme, up to July 2025, has highlighted “the critical importance of early intervention”.
It found ELSEC’s focus on universal screening and early support “is successfully addressing previously unidentified speech and language needs and helping to prevent escalation”.
However, it also revealed “the scale of previously unidentified need is greater than anticipated”.
Schools Week analysed data from the six pilot areas for which full data was available. Between them, they screened 6,300 pupils.
The analysis suggests six in 10 were found to have speech and language needs.
“Targeted interventions may need to be further ‘universalised’ to meet demand,” the report said.
It also raises questions over the future of the scheme, and how it might inform policy longer-term.
The DfE and NHS each paid £2.2 million a year to finance the two-year pilot. It was due to end last May but was granted a 12-month extension, with a lower overall funding rate of £3.4 million.
Ministers previously said ELSEC “paves the way for a reformed SEND system” and “forms one part of the government’s work testing SEND reforms”. The government is expected to deliver its white paper outlining wide-ranging SEND reforms in coming months.
Staff ‘shocked’ by level of demand
The scheme was piloted across nine areas, which adopted different approaches to SLCN screening.
In six of the nine areas, children’s needs were coded using a “traffic light” system: green for those who met or exceeded age expectations, amber for those needing additional support, and red for those with greatest need or needing specialist referral.
Schools Week analysis of data for the six areas shows just 39 per cent met or exceeded age expectations.
Meanwhile six in 10 had speech and language needs, with 31 per cent needing additional support, and 23 per cent in the highest category of need.
“Many” project leads “highlighted the scale of previously unidentified need uncovered” through ELSEC, said the report.
In one area, two-thirds of children found to need speech and language support had not previously been identified.
The report quoted a project manager saying: “[We were] shocked at the amount of children flagging as needing targeted support.”
In Barnet, the majority of children identified through ELSEC as having “significant” needs had not been referred to speech and language therapy services before.
In Gloucestershire, staff said screening “showed a huge percentage of children… not where this [setting’s] assessment said they should be”.
Elsewhere, an ELSEC staff member said screening all children in nursery, reception and year 1 helped identify pupils “who might otherwise have been missed…who were vocal but not necessarily understanding”.
‘Measurable progress’ in speech and language
As of July 2025, ELSEC had reached more than 17,000 children across almost 600 nurseries and primaries through universal interventions. Around 4,600 benefitted from received targeted interventions, the report said.
Meanwhile, more than 3,800 staff have been trained by ELSEC teams.
Early outcomes data shows children made “measurable progress”.
Universal screening helped identify “large numbers” of children with previously unidentified needs, while targeted interventions “led to improvements in communication, confidence, and readiness to learn”.
In “several” areas, the proportion of children needing specialist support decreased after ELSEC interventions.
One Hartlepool parent said their child’s “self-confidence is soaring, and she has come out of her shell”.
Staff said pupils were “more willing to participate in class” and “more sociable at dinnertime,” which they linked to improved comprehension and expressive language skills.
They observed children becoming “more confident to speak out,” “using full sentences,” and “better able to explain their thinking”. Teachers highlighted clear gains in vocabulary, comprehension, and ability to follow instructions.
Meanwhile parents and carers “reported feeling more confident in supporting their children”.
Staff also “reported increased confidence and competence in supporting children with SLCN” with many settings left “able to deliver universal and targeted interventions independently”.
What happens next?
But the report leaves a question mark over the long-term effects of the scheme, noting “challenges in relation to sustainability”.
For “many settings”, continuing screening for SLCN and deliver interventions without the support of ELSEC teams “is expected to be challenging in the face of competing demands and heavy workloads”, it states.
While the programme has made “significant progress”, recruitment and retention of support workers “remain challenging”.
Meanwhile “short-term funding cycles can hinder long-term planning”, the report found.
The programme gives “a strong foundation for further development, scaling, and integration of effective practices across the system”.
But the report added: “Continued investment in workforce development,
data systems, and partnership working will be essential to sustain and build on these achievements.”
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