(UK) Essex: "Schools increasingly asked to meet complex needs with limited resources"

July 28, 2026, Stretched school budgets are 'leaving children without the support they need' - Essex Live

Stretched school budgets are 'leaving children without the support they need'. Families have warned that years of financial pressure on schools are leaving children without the support they need to succeed.

Residents on the Delaware Estate in Shoebury have launched a grassroots campaign calling for increased school funding. They say they are particularly concerned about the impact on children with special educational needs and disabilities, claiming stretched budgets are making it harder for schools to provide the help many pupils require. . . .

Mr Alaba said investing in schools was “investing in our young people” and that every child “including those with SEND” deserved the support they need. Among those involved is parent Sasha Das Gupta.

She said: “Over a number of years, we’ve seen schools not being able to fund the support that children need. The ISP and EHCP support plans – a lot of children and parents can’t access the support attached to them because the money is not always there to fund it. Things should be getting better, but over the last 15 years they just seem to keep getting worse.”

The concerns are echoed by teacher Theo Freedman, a Year 3 teacher at Thorpedene Primary School, who said schools are increasingly being asked to meet complex needs with limited resources.

“I am deeply concerned by the budget cuts,” he said. “The cuts will affect schools enormously as they place even greater pressure on support staff and teaching staff to meet increasingly complex needs without adequate resources and personnel.” . . .

Mr Alaba highlighted Government funding allocated to Southend, including £2.08 million [$276M] in High Needs Capital funding for 2026-27 to create additional specialist SEND places and more than £1.5 million [$2M] for the new Experts at Hand service, designed to give families faster access to educational psychologists, occupational therapists and speech and language therapists.