| SPOTLIGHT |
The National Audit Office (NAO) has warned that despite funding rising by 58% in the last decade, the Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) system is “financially unsustainable” and “in urgent need of reform”.
An NAO report, published today (24 October), claims that two-fifths of local authorities face the risk of issuing a section 114 notice by March 2026, in part due to SEN costs, and observes that the Government has “not yet identified a solution” to manage the estimated £4.6bn deficit.
The Local Government Association (LGA) described the report as “yet another indictment” of a failing SEND system that is not meeting the care and support needs of children with special needs, and called for the Government to set out how it will reform and adequately fund the SEND system in next week’s budget.
Since 2015, demand for Education, Health and Care (EHC) plans has increased 140%, leading to 576,000 children with plans in 2024. There has also been a 14% increase in the number of those with SEN support, to 1.14 million pupils in school.
The NAO noted: “Although DfE has increased high-needs funding, with a 58% real-terms increase between 2014-15 and 2024-25 to £10.7 billion, the system is still not delivering better outcomes for children and young people or preventing local authorities from facing significant financial risks.”
The report claims that families and children lack confidence in a SEN system that “often falls short of statutory and quality expectations”.
For example, the proportion of EHC plans issued within the statutory 20-week target was 50% in 2023, after being around 60% from 2018 to 2021, and the proportion of EHC plan decisions taken to a tribunal increased from 1.6% in 2018 to 2.5% in 2023.
The report concludes with nine recommendations for DfE and wider government, including:
Responding to the report, Cllr Arooj Shah, Chair of the Local Government Association’s Children and Young People Board, said: “This report is yet another indictment of a failing SEND system that is not meeting the care and support needs of children with special needs.
“In next week’s Budget we are hoping that the Government will set out how it will reform and adequately fund the SEND system, so children get the support they desperately need.
“In particular we are hoping this will include writing off all high needs deficits to ensure councils are not faced with having to cut other services to balance budgets through no fault of their own, or their residents. With councils currently able to keep these off their balance sheets, we have serious concerns that many will face a financial cliff-edge, when this flexibility ends in March 2026.”
The President of the Association of Directors of Children’s Services (ADCS), Andy Smith, said: “The report highlights the systemic challenges facing the current SEND system, particularly its financial unsustainability. […] The impending expiration of the current statutory override in March 2026, which allows councils to hold high-needs budget deficits off the balance sheet, poses an imminent financial risk to the financial sustainability of Councils.”
He added: “We cannot continue to view SEND and education as separate systems or believe that we can ‘fix SEND’. We need to reimagine a truly inclusive single education system which would enable the vast majority children to be educated in mainstream schools, alongside their peers. This will require courage and a major step change, and the government will need to bring parents, schools, and all stakeholders together on this journey, but it is the right thing to do for children.”
Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman Ms. Amerdeep Somal said: “The National Audit Office’s report is a thorough and comprehensive review of the SEN system, its performance and the need for improvement. It highlights the significant financial challenges for local authorities and, most importantly, the impact on children and families when the system falls short.
“As the Ombudsman with jurisdiction over local authority services I see the individual stories of young people whose life chances are permanently affected by a system which is not working for them, their families, schools and councils. Even after many years of involvement in SEN issues, starting my career as a judge in SEND tribunals, I find many of the cases that come across my desk truly distressing.
“As part of the oversight system, alongside the National Audit Office and others, we see the challenges that currently exist and are keen to support improvement at a national level.”
Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson said: “The NAO’s report exposes a system that has been neglected to the point of crisis, with children and families with SEND quite simply being failed on every measure.
“Every child and young person deserves the best life chances and the opportunity to achieve and thrive. But at the moment far too few are being given that chance in a system that is too skewed towards specialist provision and over-reliant on EHC plans – often only to the benefit of families who have the resources to fight for support.
“I am determined to rebuild families’ confidence in a system so many rely on – so, there will be no more sticking plaster politics and short-termism when it comes to the life chances of some of our most vulnerable children. The reform families are crying out for will take time, but with a greater focus on mainstream provision and more early intervention, we will deliver the change that is so desperately needed.”
Lottie Winson
