(England) Govt must stop taking from regular ed to pay for SPED; "‘crunch time’ over special needs funding"
- The end of childhood
- Jan 22
- 3 min read
Jan 20, 2026, Daily Mail: Government must stop 'robbing Peter to pay Paul' over special needs as IFS predicts 'crunch time'
Heads have accused ministers of ‘robbing Peter to pay Paul’ after analysis found special needs funding is being siphoned off from mainstream schools budgets.
In a new report, the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) said the Government has reached ‘crunch time’ over special needs funding.
It said spending on this is expected to more than double in real terms between 2015 and 2028, with most of the extra money being taken from everyday school budgets.
This means there is less money to pay for day-to-day classroom expenses, such as pencils and books.
It comes ahead of Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson publishing her long-awaited Schools White Paper, which will address the overspend on special educational needs and disabilities (Send).
Reacting to the research, Pepe Di’Iasio, General Secretary of the ASCL heads’ union, said: ‘We clearly cannot continue with a situation where spiralling costs are being funded by squeezing mainstream school funding – effectively robbing Peter to pay Paul – and where even then the level of need outstrips the money available for Send support.
‘The pressure on funding has left many schools having to make cutbacks on their curriculum, pastoral support, and extracurricular activities as well increasing class sizes.’
Daniel Kebede, general secretary of the National Education Union, added: ‘Increases in Send funding have been paid for by starving mainstream funding. This just isn’t good enough.
‘Our most recent survey shows that schools are running on empty with shortages of even basic supplies like glue sticks and pens.’
The IFS said ministers either need to slow the growth in Send spending, accept an ongoing squeeze for mainstream schools, or inject more funding in through higher taxes or cuts elsewhere.
School funding increases in recent years have reversed cuts between 2010/11 and 2019/20, the IFS said, with funding now back at 2010 levels in real terms.
Spending per pupil increased by 10 per cent in real terms between 2019/20 and 2025/26, but once planned spending on Send is accounted for, funding for mainstream schools actually only grew by 5 per cent, leaving it a similar level to 2015/16.
IFS Research Fellow Luke Sibieta said: ‘The most important education issue facing the Government is the growing dysfunction in the Send system.
‘The problems here are not new, but they have been growing, and the Government is right to stress the importance of reform for the sake of everyone involved – children, families, schools and councils.
But we have now reached crunch time.’
Josh Hillman of the Nuffield Foundation added :‘Without decisive action, rising Send costs will dwarf available resources and undermine the promise of high-quality education.’
Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) forecasts imply a £6 billion gap between expected funding and costs of Send in 2028/29.
The OBR previously warned this could result in a 4.9 per cent fall in per pupil spending if the gap were to be funded from the core schools budget.
However, the Government has insisted deficits will be absorbed in the overall government budget rather than from schools.
Sean Gaul, Oxfordshire County Council’s cabinet member for children and young people, said: ‘The situation is unsustainable. It’s a national problem, a national crisis, impacting many families and children across the country.’
A Department for Education spokesman said: 'We are laying the groundwork for an inclusive education system where children are supported at the earliest stage and can thrive in their local school. That means investing £200 million[$268M] to train all teachers on SEND and at least £3 billion [$4B] to create 50,000 new specialist places.
'We are backing schools with record investment – funding is increasing by £4.2 billion [$5.6B] by 2028-29 compared to the 2025-26 core schools budget, taking per pupil funding to its highest ever level and helping transform the SEND system.
'We have been totally clear that any SEND deficit will be absorbed within the whole government budget.'
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