(UK) N. London borough: $13M for 212 SPED places "won't meet demand"

Jan 13, 2026, My London: North London borough to fund 212 new SEND places with extra £10m [$13M] - it still won't meet demand 

https://www.mylondon.news/news/north-london-news/north-london-borough-fund-212-33214174.amp 

Brent Council projects that increasing in-borough places for pupils with special educational needs and disabilities will save £5.6m [$7.5M] a year

A North London council has tabled plans to provide more than 200 additional school placements in the borough for pupils with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), which it predicts will save the local authority £5.6m a year.

Brent Council's Cabinet is set to move forward with 'Phase 2' of its SEND Capital Programme by using £10.6m [$14M] from the Department for Education grant to deliver a further 212 spaces. Alongside a proposed new special school, places will be made available at four existing sites as it looks to address a "significant shortfall" in the borough.

By having more SEND provision locally, the council expects the plan to reduce its costs by £4.3m a year, alongside an additional £1.3m a year by reducing the financial pressure on the special needs transport budget. However, it would still fall short of the number of places projected to be needed by 2027 due to the growing demand.

The Strathcona site would be used for the new 50-place SEND school following the closure of Roe Green School(Image: Google Maps)

Since obtaining Cabinet approval at a meeting in November last year, the council has been consulting on ways it can deliver the additional 212 SEND places. The development of the new 50-place SEND provision at the Strathcona site in Preston Park is still under consultation but the Cabinet is set to approve plans for where the remaining 162 places will be located at a meeting next week (January 19).

Documents show that 74 secondary school places will be split between The Avenue (34) - through the use of a temporary building at Newman Catholic College - and The Village School (40) - with 20 places at the main site and the remaining 20 at a rebuilt Kingsbury High School site, which would be completed by September 2029.

The remaining 88 places will be primary school places and delivered on two existing sites at various times throughout 2026 - 72 at The Manor School 1 by leasing spare capacity at St Mary's and the remaining 16 at The Manor School 2 via the expansion of early years at the Bridge Road satellite site.

In the last year, the number of education, health, and care plans (EHCPs) has increased across all age groups, according to the council. The group that saw the highest increase in numbers was primary school-aged children, those between five and ten, with an 8.2 per cent rise.

Sending pupils to out-of-borough and independent placements currently costs the council £17.5m a year - plus an additional £6m in transport costs. Alongside the £5.6m a year savings it expects to make by increasing the amount of in-borough provision, the council says the plans will also increase the number of teaching and associated staff roles by 63.

Cabinet Member for Children, Young People and Schools, Cllr Gwen Grahl, said: "Continuing the good work completed in the past three years to be on target to deliver 382 new SEND places from the 2022 approved capital programme, this second phase builds on this foundation as SEND demand continues to increase.

"We have worked with schools to identify spare mainstream capacity to convert to SEND to reduce costs and ensure maximum value from the SEND capital grant funding."

However, in order to keep pace with the growing demand for places, the council suggests it would need to provide an additional 320 SEND places through new schools, which could mean converting mainstream schools - where there is a surplus of primary places - into special schools.