Government unveils £740 million funding boost to improve support for pupils with SEND – school leaders respond

National Audit Office highlighted the crisis in the SEND system, with very limited progress having been made in making mainstream schools more inclusive in recent years, harming children’s life chances.

In response, the government has confirmed it will not enter any more of its Safety Valve agreements for councils in financial deficits, pending wider reform of the whole system to prioritise early intervention, and provide better support for councils to bring their finances under control.

Secretary of State for Education, Bridget Phillipson, said:  “The current picture is stark. For too long, too many children with additional needs haven’t been getting support early enough, with dire consequences when issues escalate.

“But my commitment to reform – making tangible change to the SEND system to improve experiences for children and families – could not be clearer, and building a system where more children with SEND can attend mainstream schools is central to our plans.

“We are determined to break down barriers to opportunity for all children and will work closely with local authorities, schools and families to ensure inclusion is at the heart of learning and that all pupils are getting the support they need to achieve and thrive.”

Last year, only 20 per cent of pupils with SEND met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths at Key Stage 2 level. Without the right support, children are falling behind their peers, impacting their future life chances.

The government stated that the funding announced today is part of a broader £6.7 billion capital settlement for education for the next financial year, as outlined in the Autumn Budget. The DfE said this will be used to deliver its mission to ‘break down barriers to opportunity and give every child the best life chances while fixing the foundations of the school system’.

Allocations will be confirmed in spring, alongside the publication of guidance outlining how councils can use this investment to improve local mainstream provision.  

Over time, more than 30 local authorities have been supported to manage their high needs budgets through the Safety Valve programme. The DfE said this programme provides support for councils with deficits with their overspending on SEND but has not been effective enough across the board given the scale of the challenge.

The government has stated it will continue to work with local authorities with Safety Valve agreements to deliver their plans.

Responding to announcements about the £740 million cash injection for pupils with SEND, Paul Whiteman, general secretary of school leaders’ union, NAHT said: “We’ve long highlighted that there simply isn’t enough capacity in either mainstream or special schools to offer all children with additional needs the support they deserve.

“Mainstream schools in particular often lack the essential facilities needed at a time when they are they are trying to cater for increasing numbers of pupils for whom there is simply not space in special schools.

“This is a legacy of the failure by previous governments to provide anything like enough investment to meet increasing demand over the last decade.

“While this funding will be welcomed by mainstream schools, it must be just the beginning of sustained investment not only in specialist facilities, and increased special school places, but also support for children with special educational needs and the professionals who provide this.

“That must mean reforms backed by a huge injection of new funding over this Parliament to tackle the current postcode lottery and ensure pupils with similar needs can access equitable and sufficient provision, irrespective of where they live or whether they attend a mainstream or special school. We also want to see local authority ‘high needs’ deficits written off and action to address workforce shortages affecting vital roles like educational psychologists and speech and language therapists.”