LONDON, Britain will unveil long-delayed reforms to England’s special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) system on Monday, as rising demand and sharply escalating costs push it towards a financial breaking point.
The Labour government is under pressure to fix a system which its budget watchdog, the Office for Budget Responsibility, has warned will leave it footing a 6 billion pound ($8.09 billion) bill by the end of the decade.
This month, ministers wrote off 90% of councils’ historic SEND-related deficits after eight in 10 local authorities warned they risked becoming insolvent under mounting costs. The government has said it will assume the full cost of SEND provision from 2028.
The Department for Education said its 4 billion-pound package over the next three years is designed to ease pressures by improving early intervention and making mainstream schools more inclusive. But campaigners say that if the reforms, which will be set out in a white paper on Monday, are designed to curb high spending, this could result in less effective provisions for students with special needs.
Education Minister Bridget Phillipson told the BBC on Sunday the government is committed to improving outcomes for children but will take action where funds are not being well spent.
Under current rules, many families rely on a statutory Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) – the only guaranteed route to the support they need. Limited help for those without an EHCP has pushed more parents to seek one, driving up funding demands and fuelling bureaucracy, including tribunal battles.
CHILDREN’S NEEDS TO BE ‘REVIEWED’
The new plans include 1.8 billion pounds to create a national pool of specialists – such as SEND teachers and speech and language therapists – that schools can draw on regardless of whether a child has an EHCP. Advocates warned that any new restrictions on EHCPs could see many children lose the support they need. Phillipson said the reforms were not intended to remove “effective support” from children but needs would be reviewed. Madeleine Cassidy, CEO of SEND law charity IPSEA, said Monday’s white paper must clarify which parts of the new approach are legally enforceable, how public bodies will be held accountable for failures, and how parents’ rights to challenge decisions will be protected.
One of the government’s reforms aims to ensure all teachers are equipped to support children with SEND. A spokesperson for the National Autistic Society said extra funding was welcomed but that school staff were already overstretched and underfunded.
Matt Wrack, general secretary of teachers’ union NASUWT, described the new funding as “barely a drop in the bucket” compared with what is needed to improve schools.
($1 = 0.7417 pounds) (Reporting by Alistair Smout and Catarina Demony; Editing by Ros Russell and David Gregorio)
