(UK) High-needs budget up [$5.1B] (up 60%) from 2019 to 2024; not kept pace with rising demand.

May 16, 2025, Schools Week: Three years in the making, but Labour savages SEND improvement plan 

The Conservative government’s SEND improvement plan “did not go far enough” to resolve the major issues in the special needs system, the new government has said.

In a 17,000-word response to the education committee’s SEND inquiry, Department for Education officials tore through the reforms – which were three years in the making.

They said they did not look hard enough” at wider barriers and “perverse” incentives to more inclusive schools.

Their submission gives a further insight into the government’s thinking on where its own special needs reforms – due to be outlined this year – will end up.

It also reveals concerns that special needs provision will not be protected as more councils predict bankruptcies and pupils in overcrowded special schools get worse GCSE results.

Plan ‘did not go far enough’

The previous government’s SEND improvement plan – which took three years to draw up and cost £70 million to test – “did not go far enough”, Labour has said.

The plan was billed as setting out “systemic reforms” that would ensure “every child gets the help they need”.

But Labour’s submission to MPs picks apart many aspects of the plan, concluding: “Overall, it did not take a fundamental look at the underpinnings of the system that had caused the challenges in the first place, but sought to address the problems within that system.” . . .

The plan “did not commit clearly enough to an inclusive mainstream system, or look hard enough at wider barriers”.

There were “mixed messages” about driving inclusion while creating “very large numbers” of new special school places.

Schools also believed the reforms “continued to rely on a model that looked only at individual needs, and made it hard to provide support for cohorts or groups of children – which they believed could be done more efficiently and effectively”, officials said. . . .

Councils told the government the plan asked them to “take responsibility” for a “much better and more consistent offer” for pupils with additional needs “without the levers to deliver it”.

And parents “worried” reforms “implied a reduction in the guaranteed support offered by EHCPs without enough clarity on what would be offered instead”.

£1bn [$1.3B] safety-valve bailouts ‘not effective enough’…

Another key intervention was the safety-valve scheme. Councils with huge deficits on their SEND budgets were promised multi-year bailouts totalling £1 billion – in return for strict cost-saving measures.

But Labour has stopped new entrants to the scheme. Five agreements are also suspended, likely because councils have fallen behind on cuts.

The government said the scheme has “not been effective enough across the board given the scale of the challenge”.

A lessons-learned report is due to be published this month.

…concern over SEND hit from council bankruptcy

Provision for special needs funding mostly comes from the dedicated and ring-fenced schools grant, which would not be directly impacted should a council issue a section 114 notice (which means it is effectively bankrupt).

But the government said councils “may have to reduce spend on any discretionary elements, like early intervention and preventative services” from non-ring-fenced budgets.

Such savings could “also adversely affect wider support functions such as workforce and home-to-school transport, putting the quality and/or effectiveness of SEND provision at risk, as well as wider impacts beyond education and high-needs”.

Six top-tier councils have issued section 114 notices since 2020. They are not named, but in November 2021 Slough was found to have “significant concerns” over its SEND provision, a year after it issued a section 114.

Officials said they would provide support to “help mitigate” drops in provision in such cases.

But the outlook is bleak, with half of councils warning they are likely to issue a section 114 notice in the next five years, a poll for the Local Government Information Unit last year found.

‘Will build on’ £70m Change programme

The improvement plan included £70 million to trial reforms under the Change programme.

This included proposals for standardised EHCP templates, strengthened mediation, and multi-agency panels for plans. But while criticising the reforms, officials are still “considering how we can build on this”.

The scheme was also helping officials “spot and address unintended consequences created by how the reforms interact together. Evidence will inform any future decision to legislate to require the whole system to deliver these changes.”

Lower GCSEs in ‘overcrowded’ schools’

The submission outlined “some evidence that pupils in overcrowded settings – special or mainstream – typically have lower attainment”, estimated as the equivalent of a two-percentage point reduction.

However, the government said it has not tested this against current special school attainment and capacity data.

Nearly two thirds of special schools are at or over capacity. Overcrowded schools have about 12 per cent more pupils than reported capacity.

The DfE did not respond to a request for comment.

One in 14 schools has a SEND unit

To increase capacity, the government is encouraging mainstream schools and councils to set up resourced provision and SEN units.

However, data shows just one in 14 schools nationally has one. There is also a big variability: one in seven secondaries has such provision, compared with one in 14 primaries.

The government also said some councils have no schools with SEN units, while other areas have one in every four schools.

But officials said they are keen to “scale up” best practice and “work with the sector to extend this across the system, including how SEN units and resourced provision can promote greater inclusion”.

‘No quick fixes’ and ‘more money not always the answer’…

Officials said it was time for “bold reform”, with a white paper due this year. The government will focus on making mainstream schools more inclusive and early identification of SEND.

But there are “no quick fixes”, with officials taking “a considered approach to deliver sustainable system reform”.

The high-needs budget – which funds provision for pupils with additional needs – has risen £4 billion [$5.1B] (up 60 per cent) from 2019 to 2024, but has still not kept pace with rising demand.