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CIPFA sets out five principles of reform for “broken” SEND system

The Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA) has set out five key principles for reform to England’s Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) system for children and young people.

These principles, which would create a “simpler, fairer and financially sustainable” system, are:

  1. Funding is holistic, needs-based and responsive to local and cohort demand and complexity.
  2. Spending is rebalanced towards early identification and intervention to improve outcomes using a consistent, standardised outcomes framework.
  3. Financial resources are well-coordinated between education, health, public health and care partners. 
  4. The role of the independent sector is reformed to reduce cost, tackle profiteering and address inequality.
  5. Financial accountability follows decision making.

In its report, Reforming SEND finance: meeting need in a sustainable system, CIPFA said a decade of missed opportunities had left the system in crisis.

It added that its recommendations, if taken up, would “tackle the financial instability that has driven many local authorities to a financial cliff edge, as well as the shortcomings of a fragmented system that fails to deliver”.

Owen Mapley, CIPFA Chief Executive, said: “The SEND system is broken. Well intentioned reforms seriously underestimated the need and related demand creating years of misaligned priorities. 

“This has left too many children and young people facing delays and deficiencies in the support they need and created unsustainable financial and operational pressures for councils and education and health care providers.

“CIPFA’s five principles contribute to the debate on how to transform this fragmented system, improving outcomes for children while improving financial stability for all relevant providers.”

William Burns, CIPFA Social Care Policy Advisor, said: “Our research highlights the urgent need for a system overhaul. To stabilise the SEND system, CIPFA recommends immediate short-term actions followed by medium and long-term reforms to ensure lasting change.

“Addressing these issues now will ensure SEND services meet the needs of children and young people while securing the long-term sustainability of local authority finances.”