England: Special ed situation 'financially unsustainable'; councils fear bankruptcy, parents fear 'chaos'

June 2, 2025, The i Paper: SEND shake-up terrifying parents who fear ‘chaos’ in the classroom

Parents have been left “terrified” by the prospect of a forthcoming shake-up of the way children with special needs are supported in England’s schools.

They fear changes that could see the removal of individual legal guarantees of funding and support for pupils with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) in mainstream classrooms.

Paul Walker is the CEO of First Federation Trust, a multi-academy trust with 29 primary schools across Devon and Dorset, where EHCP funding covers around half of the teaching assistants who schools employ. He is worried about what the loss of any of that money or staff would mean.

“There are a number of children with quite high needs in our primaries,” he said. “A number of those children have got social, emotional and mental health issues. Those children very often dysregulate. Those children can find it really hard to manage themselves within that class setting.

“At the moment, with the structures and stuff that we have, if those children do dysregulate, there’s often an adult who can support them… If you don’t have those spare adults, then that becomes very challenging to juggle a wide variety of needs.”

Rush for special school places predicted

Gillian Doherty, co-director of SEND parent group Special Needs Jungle, thinks restricting or removing EHCPs in mainstream schools could trigger a dash for places in special schools, which are already at a premium.

“Removing EHCPs from disabled children in mainstream schools won’t magically make their needs disappear,” she said. “It will just leave them without the support they need to thrive, make progress and stay safe, which would be a disaster.

“Given there is already a shortage of places, with some special schools dangerously over capacity, this could leave even more disabled children without school places.”

Parents’ and schools’ fears have been triggered by comments from Dame Christine Lenehan, the Government’s strategic adviser on SEND. Last month, she said that the SEND review would “probably” result in fewer EHCPs, and suggested that stopping the use of the plans in mainstream schools was being considered.

In March, The i Paper revealed that ministers were considering a tightening of EHCP rules, which could result in more children with SEND being educated in mainstream schools.

Schools minister Catherine McKinnell has since declined to rule out narrowing EHCPs or replacing them altogether.

‘My son has Down’s syndrone – losing his EHCP would be a tragedy’

Anjali Hoyle says it would be a “complete tragedy” for her six-year-old son Dexter, who has Down’s syndrome, to lose his EHCP.

“If EHCPs didn’t exist, we may not have tried mainstream first place,” said the 42-year-old from Portsmouth. . . .

SEND system ‘financially unsustainable’

The Government review follows a warning from the National Audit Office (NAO) in October that the SEND system is “financially unsustainable”, with soaring demand for EHCPs, and has left more two fifths of local authorities at risk of effective bankruptcy.

Department for Education (DfE) sources say the outcome of the review will not be an overall reduction in SEND funding. However, it was unable to guarantee that the SEND money that mainstream schools receive, currently via EHCPs, will not be reduced.

Currently, the average education funding for a pupil with an EHCP is £19,100 [$26,000] in a mainstream secondary school, and £18,100[$24,000] in a mainstream primary, according to the NAO.

Almost half that money – £8,300 [$11,000] per secondary pupil, and £8,900 [$12,000] per primary – comes from local authorities because of the EHCP.

There is no suggestion that all of that money would disappear because of the review. But the possibility of even some of the cash going is alarming for those working within the SEND system.

‘EHCPs saved schools from bankruptcy’

One specialist warned the loss of EHCP money could have a knock-on impact for all pupils as schools had been using it to plug gaps because “core school funding isn’t enough”.

He added: “If [they] didn’t, schools would have gone bankrupt. Most of them would have been under-budget years ago.” . . .

 ‘More challenging behaviour in class’

Katie Ghose is vice-chair of the Disabled Children’s Partnership – a coalition of more than 120 organisations – and CEO of Kids, a charity that supports disabled children. She said any reduction in resources could lead to “chaos” in classrooms, with teachers unable to meet the needs of multiple SEND pupils at once.

“Many EHCP-specified support programmes might be written by a specialist therapist but then carried out in class by a teaching assistant,” she said. “If children don’t have for example their speech and language needs met, they might withdraw from learning.

“That could result in an increase in challenging behaviour in class, leading to an atmosphere of chaos, through no fault of the children or the teacher. We are concerned absenteeism will rise too, further breaking down the contract between schools and pupils.”

She added: “We applaud the Government’s ambition for every school to be inclusive, but threatening to ditch EHCPs will make this impossible to achieve.”

Fear of cuts hitting the most needy children

Margaret Mulholland, SEND and inclusion specialist at the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL), said wider reforms were needed before the EHCPs can be restricted or reduced in mainstream settings.

She said that without sufficient core funding for schools, “any move to limit EHCPs risks forcing schools to make cuts that will directly impact the children who need the most help”.

A Department for Education spokesperson said: “The evidence is clear that this Government inherited a SEND system left on its knees – with too many children not having their needs met and parents forced to fight for support.

“This Government is actively working with parents and experts on the solutions, including more early intervention to prevent needs from escalating and £740m [$1B] to encourage councils to create more specialist places in mainstream schools.

“Any changes we make will improve support for children and parents, stop parents from having to fight for support, and protect provision currently in place.”