(UK) Former Ed Sec calls for "radically rethinking" SPED; $8.5B debt expected by 2028
- The end of childhood
- 1 day ago
- 3 min read
Jan 3, 2026, Times: We already have great SEND schools. Let’s learn from them
The cost of supporting children with special educational needs and disabilities is unsustainable unless we radically rethink our approach
As we await the schools white paper scheduled to be published in a few weeks’ time — which will outline substantial reform to funding for, and delivery of, special educational needs provision — the recent budget has once again thrown up a historic anomaly and a potential black hole.
Since 2020 councils have been permitted to substantially overspend on special educational needs. This is known as “statutory override”: the debt is kept off the local authority books and carried by the Treasury. Previous National Audit Office reports have already flagged the likelihood of a gap of £2.9 billion [$3.9B], but at the end of November it was projected to reach, in just over two years’ time, a staggering £6.3 billion [$8.5B].
If spending per pupil is not to be reduced by up to 5 per cent in the latter part of this parliament, the gap will have to be filled. However, reform cannot be predicated on cutbacks, but rather on radical modernisation. Everyone involved in supporting our most vulnerable youngsters agrees that despite an additional £1 billion [$1.3B] applied over the past year, the system is simply not working.
The number of children on education, health and care plans (EHCPs) — assigned to those identified as having the most serious special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) — has escalated from 250,000 in 2015 to 482,000 today. You don’t need a degree in maths to see that the situation is becoming unmanageable. Together, parents, schools, academy trusts, local authorities and national government have to face this exponential threat to the system and find a solution that will meet the needs of children. . . .
While the system itself creaks at the edges, children find themselves caught in a spider’s web, where mainstream schools turn to drastic action, particularly on behaviour. Children with SEND are almost three times as likely to be suspended from school as their peers, and tragically much more likely to be absent from school. The latest statistics on exclusion reveal the extent of the challenge. In the 2023-24 academic year nearly half (45 per cent) of those suspended from school were judged to have SEND.
Last year only 22 per cent of pupils with identified SEND met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths at the age of 11. A similar figure blights youngsters at GCSE in English and maths.
Over the past ten years the number of children in special schools has risen from 10,000 to over 26,000. There is a waiting list of 8,000 for a place in a special school (double the shortfall last year). We must have an answer that allows us to move resources and expertise, good practice and definable outcomes from special schools into specialist provision within all schools.
This can range from having specialist units attached to schools, in which children spend at least part of their time having intensive support, to a dramatic improvement in training not only for teachers but also for hard-pressed and underpaid teaching assistants.
We need specialist hubs to spread best practice and offer real-time support. We must harness the power and expertise in special schools and highly inclusive mainstream schools to equip teachers and leaders to deliver in the classroom, because this is where the real work is done.
That is the task this government is taking on, and whatever criticisms emerge over the planned changes, it deserves credit for refusing to duck the challenge and being determined to provide equality of opportunity and fulfilling lives for youngsters.
Lord Blunkett was education secretary from 1997 to 2001
