How can we solve the SEND crisis?

Demand for SEND support has consistently outstripped capacity year on year, with figures from the National Audit Office (NAO) stating that between 2015 and 2024, there was a 140% increase (to 576,000) in children with an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP).¹

Over 1.5 million school children now require SEND support (a 14% increase), and these changes have increased the cost of the SEND system. High-needs funding rose by 58% in the last decade to £10.7 billion for 2024-25.

As a result, local authorities (LAs) nationwide are racking up “huge” deficits by spending millions of pounds each year on support. The dedicated schools grant deficits could reach £4.6 billion by March 2026. In addition, two-fifths of LAs were at risk of issuing bankruptcy notices by March 2026, partly due to SEND costs.¹

Despite the rising costs, the NAO report also found that the system is still not delivering
better outcomes for children and young people. If the crisis continues, thousands of children and young people will not get the education and support they need, which will have long-term consequences for their educational outcomes and overall well-being.

Education Committee inquiry into SEND

The Education Committee launched an inquiry in December with the aim of finding solutions to the SEND crisis. The cross-party inquiry will focus on stabilising the system in the short term and achieving long-term sustainability with improved outcomes for children and young people.²

It will examine every phase of education and development, from the early years through to the age of 25 and focus on five key areas:

• Support for children and young people
  with SEND
• Current and future SEND need
• Current and future model of SEND provision
• Accountability and inspection of
  SEND provision
• Finance, funding and capacity of SEND provision

Among those giving evidence at the Inquiry was Jenny Riddell-Carpenter MP, who said that tackling our nation’s SEND crisis must be a national priority.

She added: “Much like rebuilding our NHS or tackling the housing crisis, we must also be determined to rebuild our SEND support as a nation and build a system that works for our children. Alongside this, we must plan for the sustainable funding of the SEND system.

“But – much like the issues facing our NHS, the answer doesn’t just lie in funding. We need a belt
and braces review, a review that seeks to get to the heart of the challenges and builds provision around current and future needs.

“I’d like to see a national conversation about SEND. Bringing in parents and young people’s voices is an opportunity for them to share their experiences. Far too many families and young people have felt marginalised, silenced, and kicked to the sidelines when they’ve battled hard to get the support that their children are entitled to.”

The current inquiry is the latest in a long line of consultations that have promised much but delivered little.

Suggestions for SEND improvement

According to the charity IPSEA, a significant issue is that although children and young people have a legal right to special educational provision and support that meets their needs, the law is widely disregarded.

The existing SEND legal framework, set out in the Children and Families Act 2014, clearly enshrines children’s and young people’s rights and entitlements. It says the key to resolving the SEND crisis is ensuring that local authorities fulfil their statutory duties.

Non-compliance with SEND law should become unacceptable and unaffordable for local authorities and schools. The outcome will be better provision for individual children and young people and fewer appeals to the SEND Tribunal.

It added: “The existing SEND framework has the potential to transform the provision and support that children and young people with SEND receive if it is fully implemented. The system does not need to be reformed again, just made to work as it should.

“It is essential that children and young people’s existing rights to an education that meets their needs are upheld and not diluted by the next government.”

Councils facing huge bills

In recent years, LAs have lobbied for law changes to give them more control over SEND costs by limiting parental rights to appeal over SEND assessments and reducing the powers of
SEND tribunals to direct how a child’s needs are provided for in the school system.³

A report from the Local Government Association last year also called for new, independent,
non-judicial mechanisms for dealing with disagreements about decision-making.⁴

This prompted the chief executives of the Lead Disabled Children’s Partnership organisations
to issue a joint statement that said taking away families’ legal rights would only risk more
children and their families being failed.

It said: “This is because these rights are an essential safeguard when nothing else has worked. What the Government should do is give schools the right skills and enough money to be able to support the 1.7 million children in England with special educational needs. Until they do that, thousands of children will fail to learn, and many will be unable to go to school at all.”

Less talk, more promises

The current inquiry is the latest in a long line of consultations that have promised much but
delivered little.

In March 2022, the Government published its long-awaited SEND Review as a green paper, setting out proposals for reforms to how the SEND system works. The paper identified three key challenges facing the SEND system:

• The first is poor outcomes for children and young people with SEND or in alternative provision. Children and young people with SEND consistently have worse outcomes than their peers across every measure. They have poorer attendance, make up over 80% of children and young people in state-place-funded alternative provision, and just 22% reach the expected standard in reading, writing, and maths.
• The second challenge is that navigating the SEND system and alternative provision is not a positive experience for children, young people and their families. Too many parents and carers do not feel confident that local mainstream schools can meet their child’s needs.
• The third challenge is that despite unprecedented investment, the system in not delivering value for money for children, young people and families.

The green paper was followed by the SEND and Alternative Provision Improvement Plan,⁵ published in March 2023, three years after the SEND review was first launched. It set out how the Department for Education intended to proceed with the proposed changes in the green paper and promised to be ‘transformational’.

It received widespread criticism, however, for not changing very much and most of the meaningful proposals being kicked into the future to 2025, when a general election would have taken place.

At the time, IPSEA said that the absence of any specific plans to address the persistent non-compliance with the law by many local authorities – an issue that the government has heard about repeatedly and which lies at the heart of the SEND crisis – means that nothing is likely to improve.

It added: “This isn’t the only issue with the government’s plans. The Improvement Plan is described as a “multi-year programme” to deliver an improved SEND system. But this government doesn’t have multiple years. Most of the big-ticket items (including the long-awaited EHC plan template) aren’t expected to be introduced until at least 2025. This begs the question, how much of this plan will actually be put into action?”

Now, in 2025, all eyes are on the findings of the Education Committee Inquiry and on a government white paper expected to be published in the Spring. Both promise to find solutions to ease the local authority deficits and completely recalibrate the whole SEND system. However, only time will tell how much of a price children and their families will pay to reduce the current spiralling costs.

References

1. National Audit Office. https://www.nao.org.uk/reports/support-for-children-and-young-people-with-special-educational-needs/?nab=1
2. Education Committee. https://committees. parliament.uk/work/8684/solving-the-sendcrisis/
3. https://www.theguardian.com/education/2025/mar/03/ministers-plan-major-changes-to-sendeducation-in-england?
4. Local Government Association. https://www.
local.gov.uk/publications/towards-effective-andfinancially-sustainable-approach-send-england
5. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/send-and-alternative-provision-improvement-plan

Alison Bloomer

Alison Bloomer is Editor of Learning Disability Today. She has over 25 years of experience writing for medical journals and trade publications. Subjects include healthcare, pharmaceuticals, disability, insurance, stock market and emerging technologies. She is also a mother to a gorgeous 13-year-old boy who has a learning disability.

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