(UK) Somerset: Demand for SPED up 132% in five yrs due to understanding neurodiversity
- The end of childhood
- Nov 9
- 3 min read
Nov 5, 2025, Bill Revans column: Somerset's SEND system is broken
SW England
Parents of children with special educational needs and disabilities visited County Hall on Monday to protest about the impact services for children with SEND are having on their families, writes Cllr Bill Revans.
They laid pairs of shoes with labels telling their stories.
Heartbreaking stories of children and families that are being let down by a broken system.
Demand for education and health care plans has gone up by 132 per cent in five years.
There are 6,052 children with SEND in Somerset.
The anticipation of changes being brought in by the government has led to a flurry of applications for SEND assessments.
We have now heard that those changes won’t be published until the new year.
Increased demand means we do not have the capacity to meet government targets, and this adds further worry and stress to the system.
We are, of course, working really hard to reduce waiting times, especially when children are not in school.
And we are investing in twelve SEND units in mainstream schools in order to improve provision.
I did reflect on my previous experiences of teaching in secondary schools in Somerset.
Has there been an increase in the number of children with SEND?
Or has the need just become more noticeable as the funding for education has reduced?
Certainly, we hear of more children with specific learning difficulties than we used to.
And our understanding of different conditions, especially neurodiversity, is improving all the time.
Regardless, the current system means that we have an eye-watering cumulative budget deficit, which the government says we can disregard for the purposes of accounting.
But we need a deficit management plan to get it back under control.
The BBC News did a piece last Tuesday that shone a light on a growing challenge facing councils across the country: the rising cost of transporting SEND children between home and school.
At Somerset Council and in county authorities nationwide, we are seeing a dramatic increase in the cost of providing this essential service.
In fact, councils are now spending more on school transport than on Sure Start centres, youth services, and family services combined.
This is not about questioning the need for transport – these young people absolutely deserve safe and reliable access to education.
But the current trajectory is simply unsustainable.
Over the past five years, SEND transport costs have more than doubled – from £387m [$509M] in 2019 to £800m[$1B] in 2024.
If nothing changes, projections show this figure could reach £1.1bn by 2028.
That’s a staggering burden on local authority budgets.
The system isn’t working for anyone – not for parents, not for children, and not for councils.
Some children are travelling dozens of miles each day, often in taxis or private hire vehicles, which make up the bulk of council spending in this area. . . .
On average, councils in county areas are spending £10,000 [$13,000] per child annually.
This financial pressure is forcing councils to make difficult decisions.
Many are overspending on school transport and diverting funds from other vital services like highways and libraries.
Mainstream school transport budgets are also being squeezed, creating a vicious cycle where funding is pulled from one pot to support another.
So, what are Somerset Council doing to manage this?
For school-age pupils, councils have a legal duty to provide transport if it’s specified in an education, health and care plan (EHCP).
But for post-16 students, the statutory duty falls away.
In Somerset, we’ve worked hard to maintain support where possible, assessing each application individually and offering assistance where it’s needed.
However, the financial strain means we’re having to be increasingly prudent.
We urgently need national change to the SEND system.
The delay to the Schools White Paper was deeply disappointing.
We now call on the government to stick to its timetable and publish the paper in early 2025 – and to ensure it includes meaningful, root-and-branch reform.
A key part of this must be making mainstream schools more inclusive, so more SEND pupils can be supported locally, reducing the reliance on specialist placements and costly transport.
A significant part of our SEND deficit management plan is to achieve better inclusion, starting with the roll-out of SEND units within mainstream schools.
The government is currently gathering views on the future of EHCPs, and any reformed system must deliver timely support for those who need it most, while also catering effectively for others through inclusive education and wraparound support from an early age.
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