Dec 4, 2024 Guardian: Schools in England to get extra £740m [$940M] for pupils with special needs
Schools are to get £740m to create more places for pupils with special needs, in a new push by the government to ease the strains on England’s education system.
Bridget Phillipson, the education secretary, is to announce the extra funding for mainstream schools to increase provision for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (Send), relieving pressure on special schools facing overwhelming demand.
Phillipson said: “The current picture is stark. For too long, too many children with additional needs haven’t been getting support early enough, with dire consequences when issues escalate. . . . .
The Department for Education (DfE) said “thousands of pupils” will benefit from the increase coming from the department’s £6.7bn [$8.5B] capital funding for schools announced in the autumn budget. . . .
The number of children and young people in England with identified special needs has recently risen sharply. Last year, 576,000 had an education health and care plan (EHCP), a statutory document detailing extra support agreed between parents and local authorities funded from high-needs budgets.
But a severe shortage of state special school places has caused friction between parents and councils, and additional costs for councils having to pay for places in private special schools. . . .
. . .when they are trying to cater for increasing numbers of pupils for whom there is simply no space in special schools.”
He said this was a legacy of a failure by previous governments in the past 10 years to provide the investment to cope with increasing demand. . . .
“While this funding will be welcomed by mainstream schools,” he continued, “it must be just the beginning of sustained investment not only in specialist facilities, and increased special school places, but also support for children with special educational needs and the professionals who provide this.”
Comments