MPs have been urged to help in the campaign to secure reform and investment for special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) as growing budget deficits threaten to topple more than half of local authorities in England.
More than 75 MPs and their representatives who attended a parliamentary briefing in Westminster hosted by the f40 group, the Local Government Association (LGA), and the County Councils Network (CCN) heard that the number of children receiving SEND support has more than doubled in recent years – while funding and resources have failed to keep pace.
While High Needs budgets have increased in recent years, English local authorities are expecting to have a cumulative £5bn SEND deficit by March 2026.
MPs heard that while additional money was required, major reforms to enable schools to better support inclusion of SEND pupils and to provide better early help to those children in need of extra support, would be key to resolving the crisis.
Cllr Alex Dale, Chair of the f40 group, which campaigns on behalf of 43 of the lowest funded local authorities for fairer funding and educational reform, said everyone wanted the best for children, but the current system pitted parents, education settings and local authorities against each other.
The three groups, which represent local authorities across England, came together to present the latest research into SEND, commissioned by the LGA and CCN and carried out by Isos Partnership to identify the causes of the SEND crisis and to recommend changes. The event was sponsored by f40 Vice Chairs Rt Hon Sir David Davis MP, Jayne Kirkham MP and Sarah Dyke MP.
The SEND research showed there was agreement amongst young people, parents/carers, education leaders and councils that the system was irreparably “broken”.
Despite ever increasing numbers of children and young people being identified as having SEND, increasing use of specialist provision, and increasing spend, the outcomes for children and young people had not improved in the past decade.
In particular, the research found that half of the 65 local authorities who responded to a question about whether they would continue to be solvent if the statutory override was removed – which is temporarily allowing councils to keep SEND deficits off their accounts sheet – 25% said they would cease to be solvent within one year, and a further 25% would cease to be solvent within 3 years.
The Rt Hon Sir David Davis MP, Conservative Vice Chair of the f40 group, said at the event: “I think it will cost more than £5bn to put the SEND system right, but money alone will not solve this.
“I have personal experience – many of you will know that my granddaughter has a complex condition which means she requires a lot of extra support, and my daughter has had to really struggle to get her that support. And she is not alone. Major reform and investment is required, but the design of the decision-making process must also be very carefully thought through.”
A number of MPs spoke at the briefing and said SEND had been the most talked about issue among their constituents during their election campaigning.
Jayne Kirkham MP, f40’s Labour Vice Chair, said all areas were struggling with the SEND crisis, but for the lowest funded areas, such as her constituency of Cornwall, the challenges were exacerbated.
“I had parents crying on the doorstep about their difficulties in getting help for their children. It’s such a broken system and it’s causing harm to our children,” she said.
“I was shocked when I realised how unfair the education funding system was. Cornwall is at the low end of the funding scale, yet we are a rural county, which means providing SEND support can be very expensive.
“Government is already looking at making improvements, such as introducing mental health professionals in schools, focusing on Early Years and early intervention – it’s a start but there is so much to do.”
Ben Bryant, of Isos Partnership, said providing children with early help, as soon as challenges first arose, and ensuring mainstream schools were properly resourced and equipped to enable them to improve their support of all children, would improve outcomes for children.
“We are not talking about inclusion as a prescription for provision, in terms of where individual children go to school,” said Ben.
“It’s about flipping the system on its head and designing our education system based on the principle of inclusion, so that schools have the ability and resources to be flexible, to think and act differently to meet children’s needs. We need to think about how we design our education system so that schools can meet the needs of a range of children.
“There absolutely is a place for independent special schools, and they can support the mainstream sector, but in our view the system right now does not have the right balance. We need to find a way to avoid the adversarial situation that we see now.”
Cllr Kate Foale, SEND spokesperson for the County Councils Network, said: “If we have inclusive schools, everyone will thrive. Inclusivity is at the centre of the CCN and LGA’s research.”
f40’s Liberal Democrat Vice Chair, Sarah Dyke MP, said: “SEND provision needs urgent review and intervention as it is failing so many of our children, especially in more rural or underfunded areas.
“We need, not just funding, but urgent reinvention of the system so that children’s needs are met and accommodated properly. It’s important, and gives me optimism, that we have such a large group of colleagues representing rural constituencies who are really committed to moving the needle on this. It’s absolutely imperative we find a way to support all children.”