(UK) Stockton: 200 students at special schools charging up to $153K/student/year

Nov 13, 2025, TeessideLive: Almost 200 Teesside kids educated at independent special schools - with some charging £117k [$153M] per year

https://www.gazettelive.co.uk/news/teesside-news/independent-special-schools-fee-stockton-32858426.amp

Stockton Council's Schools Forum heard of the rising costs of sending almost 200 children to independent special schools

Almost 200 children are being educated by independent special schools which can charge more than £100,000 [$130,000] per child. School bosses heard how 198 children and young people in Stockton are being educated in the independent special schools, some in three schools in the borough, some outside.

The growing costs - which still have to be met by Stockton Council - have risen way above amounts provided to mainstream schools to run units educating children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).

The council has invested £733,000 [$959,000] a year in new SEND units and additionally resourced provision (ARP) in schools to create more places for children. However secondary schools showed "no interest" in the SEND units, leaving parents scared about their children's futures, a council committee heard earlier this year.

Claire Tiffany, Stockton Council's service lead for alternative provision, said this week: "The average cost to Stockton at the moment for a pupil in independent school is £64,500 [$84,000], roughly. The highest annual cost is currently at £117,000 [$153M] per year, but that is for a child who is attending a 38-week residential placement because suitable provision isn't available in the local area.

"The lowest annual cost is £35,500 [$46,000]. The costs in independent schools rise, and we're seeing that rise year on year," she told a Schools Forum meeting on Monday, November 10.

"Whilst we are agreeing a maximum annual uplift of 3%, recent requests from providers have ranged between 7 and 8%, which puts an added pressure on us. When we need to place children, and those schools tell us they can meet the child's needs, it can be a difficult decision.

Almost double the cost

"The most common reason for placement in an independent special school is that there isn't suitable provision locally to meet the child's needs. Either there's no spaces or those schools have already said they can't meet the child's needs." . . .

Primary headteacher representative Kerry Coe said: "That's really interesting when I compare it to the cost that I get of £18,000 [$24,000] to do the same thing in my SEND unit. For one child in my SEND unit with special needs, I get £18,000, and yet the lowest cost is £35,500 [$46,000] for someone to go to an independent school.

"Why are they charging such a lot more? I've got inflationary costs, staffing pressures, I've got all of those increased added pressures, yet I'm running a SEND unit for 24 pupils at a cost of £18,000 a place." As head of St John the Baptist Primary School in Ragworth, she previously made a "call to action" to help children with SEND in Stockton.

Forum chair Sue Richardson said: "I think the top and bottom of it it we're not for profit. The independent schools... there's one that had a £4m profit last year.

"That was where the SEND unit was born from, to bring those in-house. Those SEND units generally are in primary schools currently, so there will be that cliff edge at some point," she added, referring to a lack of SEND units in secondary schools which has been discussed at other Stockton Council meetings.

"Year after year the expense gets bigger and we throw lots of different things at it, but ultimately there is a deficit that is growing. Part of the issue at the moment is the lack of capital funding to be able to do anything. It's almost trying to come up with as many creative ways as possible without having that capital ability to spend."

Majella McCarthy, the council's director of children's services, said: "The profit element of care and education is a national agenda. We've got the social care reforms and the Children and Schools Wellbeing Bill where there is anticipation that this will be addressed.

"It is really clear when you look at the costs and the difference between, I think... [it] is around profit. And that's something that absolutely needs to be tackled from the DfE.

"Where we do place children, sometimes there's not a lot of choice around what is the child's need, where is that offer, who actually can educate this child and look after them? It often comes down to that limited choice, and therein lies the problem with the cost."

Chief accountant Andy Bryson said: "If we had a magic money tree we'd throw money at this to sort the issue out. One of the issues we have is, yes we can go and borrow money to build a specialist school, but the cost of that borrowing could fall on the authority.

"At the moment there's no way the authority can afford the cost of that borrowing. I don't think there's going to be anything in the reforms around this. It's a hindrance to us."

Special school representative Mick Little spoke of frustration at the increase in fees and "price tag" from the independent sector and need to "sell" state-funded schools as an attractive "provision of choice". He said: "I think there's a lot more opportunities for collaboration. There's a lot more opportunities to keep young people in Stockton in state-funded provisions and not in the private sector." . . .