(England) Rise in special needs students 'staggering'; SPED system "BROKEN"
- Sep 13, 2025
- 3 min read
Sept 12, 2025, tes.com: DfE warned against quick-fix cuts in SEND reforms
IFS warns that any reforms that would reduce pupils’ rights to cut costs could risk a repeat of the backlash over welfare changes
Ministers are being warned that if the government’s planned SEND reforms focus on reducing pupils’ legal rights to cut short-term costs they could face the same difficulties they encountered with welfare reform.
The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) published a report today outlining the crisis in the provision for pupils with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) and the options for the government to address this.
The report comes as the government is expected to announce a White Paper including reforms of the SEND system later this year.
The IFS warns that the system of support for SEND is England is broken.
“Costs are spiralling, the quality of provision is patchy, and almost everyone involved - schools, councils, parents and children - is at breaking point,” the report says.
SEND system ‘financially unsustainable’
Luke Sibieta, IFS research fellow and co-author of the briefing, said reform was long overdue: “The system is not financially sustainable and there is almost no way to judge whether the £4 billion [$5.4B] increase in funding since 2018 represents value for money. . . .
Tes revealed earlier this year that the government was looking at whether education, health and care plans (EHCPs) are the right way to support pupils with SEND. This sparked widespread concern that the government’s reforms could result in reduced rights for children and young people with SEND.
The IFS describes the rise in the number of children with SEND as “staggering”.
It notes that since 2018 the number of pupils with EHCPs - legal documents guaranteeing tailored support for individuals judged to have the most severe needs - has increased by nearly 80 per cent. The proportion of all pupils who have an EHCP has risen from under 3 per cent to over 5 per cent in that time period. . . .
According to the projections, spending on SEND without any reform is forecast to rise by £2-3 billion[$2.7B-$4B] between now and 2028.
Mr Sibieta added: “The previous government never planned to spend an extra £4 billion a year on SEND - it simply drifted into it. If that money had been invested in a coherent transformation of provision, the system would be in far better shape today.”
Rising demand for specialist places
The IFS report says that, given the rising demand for specialist places, one obvious solution is to build more state-funded special schools.
It says this could help to meet demand and cut costs, reducing the need to rely on more expensive independent provision for pupils with EHCPs who cannot access a suitable state school place.
However, it also notes that most pupils with EHCPs today are educated in mainstream schools and that the government has indicated it wants to embed more support in mainstream schools.
The report says that the first step to improving “supply-side capacity in mainstream schools would be better training for teachers and support staff to meet a broad range of needs in the classroom”. . . .
Finally, the IFS report warns that a culture shift is necessary. “If the government is serious about mainstreaming high-needs provision, it will need all schools, teachers and other staff to believe that supporting special educational needs is a core part of their job, and feel supported to do this,” it says. . . .
Comments