This month, the Government finally confirmed to councils that their historical Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) debts would be paid off, a welcome relief for authorities across the country who are struggling financially.
This follows the Chancellor’s announcement in November that central government would take responsibility for SEND funding from 2028.
On the surface, that all sounds welcome. Councils are staring at financial ruin, in part because of soaring SEND costs. Schools need better facilities, and parents want earlier support so children don’t reach crisis-point. But the story is more complicated than the Labour press releases suggest.
For years, as school budgets have failed to keep up with increasing costs, school leaders have been forced to make cuts to teaching assistants and pastoral teams. These are the very people who quietly and skilfully supported children, alongside teachers, in areas such as speech delays, anxiety, ADHD or emerging autism.
As that mainstream capacity has been hollowed out, parents have quite rightly increasingly turned to Education, Health and Care Plans as the only way to guarantee help.
The reality is the SEND system needs fundamental change, but there are significant fears of what that change may look like.
Many parents remain deeply worried that the forthcoming government reforms will leave their children worse off, with an erosion of the rights that underpin the support they need.
Last September, Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey wrote to Keir Starmer, setting out five principles for reforming support for children with SEND to demand that children and families remain protected through the reforms:
(1) Protecting the legal right for a SEND assessment and support; and putting the views of families at the centre of the reform process.
(2) Improving mainstream provision through staff training and better facilities; and opening more state-run special schools.
(3) Capping the profits of private SEND providers; and shifting the SEND funding burden from councils to central government.
(4) Early identification and shorter waiting lists.
(5) Fair funding: Rewarding mainstream schools for accepting SEND pupils and training staff to meet their needs.
The Liberal Democrats have consistently called for extra funding to improve mainstream SEND provision, but until Chancellor Rachel Reeves sets out credible, long-term revenue funding for this transition, Labour’s rhetoric of reform risks outrunning reality.
We need reforms that are honest, ambitious, and child-centred. It’s imperative the Government gets this right: We cannot allow children’s rights to be rolled back.
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