According to the National Audit Office report, the record spending shows no sign of improvement in the lives of students.
A landmark report disclosed that England’s special needs bill reached an annual peak of £10bn, and the number of students entitled to government support in forms of education, health and care plans is set to increase drastically within the next 10 years.
A study by the National Audit Office (NAO) disclosed that there had been no signs of improvement in the lives of children with special educational needs (SEN) despite the high record levels of spending.
According to the report, local authorities were compelled towards insolvency by increasing demands for special school places and “high-needs” funding for specialists like teaching assistants, therapists, and psychologists.
The head of NAO, Gareth Davies, stated: “Although the Department for Education has increased high-needs funding, the SEN system is still not delivering for children and their families, and DfE’s current actions are unlikely to resolve the challenges.”
“The government has not yet identified a solution to manage local authority deficits arising from SEN costs, which ongoing savings programmes will not address. Given that the current system costs over £10bn a year, and that demand for SEN provision is forecast to increase further, government needs to think urgently about how its current investment can be better spent, including through more inclusive education, and developing a cohesive whole-system approach.”
The education secretary, Bridget Phillipson, stated that the previous government had neglected the system to the point of crisis.
She stated: “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.”
According to the Department for Education’s internal forecasts, the NAO reports disclosed the number of youngsters and children requiring legal support set out in documents known as education, health, and care plans (EHCPs) could increase sharply from 576, 000 this year to over a million by the next decade.
Autism spectrum conditions are expected to experience the fastest growth; the number of students diagnosed in state schools in England rose sharply from 57,000 in 2015-2016 to 132,000 last year. The report didn’t indicate any comprehensive explanation for the sharp increase in autism diagnoses. However, it stated that factors included greater awareness of the conditions and needs “potentially accelerated” impacted by COVID-19, as well as incentives for schools.
According to education leaders and experts, the NAO report disclosed that the system is in crisis, with costs and responsibilities piled on families, councils and schools.
The Ormiston Academies Trust chief executive, Tom Rees, stated: “The NAO’s report is more evidence of the urgent and overdue need for the SEN system to be reformed. The scale of the challenge is significant – this is both the most important and most complex educational reform of the next decade.”
The chief executive of Sense, Richard Kramer, stated the report outlined why families had “totally lost confidence” in the system.
Kramer went further that, “The toll that trying to navigate this crumbling system can have on families shouldn’t be underestimated.”
“We’ve had parents tell us that they are spending savings put aside for their children’s future before they even start school, and others who end up leaving their own careers to fight for their children’s basic rights.”
The NAO followed the warning by the County Councils Network and the Local Government Association (LGA) that the SEN expenditure was leading local authorities to bankruptcy.
The chair of the LGA’s children and young people board, Arooj Shah, stated: “In next week’s budget, we are hoping that the government will set out how it will reform and adequately fund the Send [special educational needs and disabilities] 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.”
