(UK) "Special needs spending will keep soaring" despite reform plan; change will take years

Feb 23, 2026, Daily Mail: Ministers admit special needs spending will keep soaring over the next decade despite reforms to bring it under control

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-15584439/amp/Ministers-admit-special-needs-spending-soaring.html 

Ministers have revealed special needs spending will keep soaring over the next decade despite reforms to bring it under control.

Labour’s long-awaited schools white paper, published today, says costs will keep rising over the next few years and only come back to today’s levels in 2035.

The reforms to the special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) system come after councils were almost bankrupted by a rise in cases of conditions such as ADHD and autism.

Since 2014, the number of children receiving Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCPs), which give them a legal right to specialist care, has doubled.

It is thought ‘raised awareness’ of less profound cases has led to the increase – although some experts say there has been an ‘overdiagnosis’.

Under the new plans, only the most severely affected pupils – such as those with blindness – will be entitled to an EHCP – while everyone else will get support supplied at school level.

Unveiling the plans in Peterborough this morning, Bridget Phillipson, the Education

Secretary, said there would be an extra £4 billion in funding for the shakeup.

However, her department also admitted that it will only make a dent in the number of EHCPs being given out in the near future, as the reforms will take several years to be phased in.

Once they are fully operational, it will be much harder to get an EHCP – meaning that cases will reduce.

Any extra money being spent in the meantime will be picked up by ‘cross-department’ spending rather than schools budgets, officials said.

Under the plans, schools will legally be obliged to provide an ‘inclusion plan’, which sets out what they are doing to help pupils with SEND.

This will be policed by Ofsted, and parents who take issue with provision can complain via the school’s complaints process, escalated to local authority level if needed.

Schools will be told to produce a ‘universal offer’ which means classrooms and teaching must be inclusive, and teachers will get training to deal with SEND.

Anyone who needs more support will get an individual plan, and there will be a further tier of support for those who need specialists from outside the school – for example, for speech and language therapy.

Only those with the most profound needs will be able to successfully apply for an EHCP – and the tribunal system will be retained for those who want to appeal.

Also under the wide-ranging plans, schools will get ‘strengthened guidance’ on how to comply with the Equality Act regarding SEND pupils. . .