A cross-party group of MPs is calling on the chancellor to provide more funds to tackle the “deepening” crisis in special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) support.

The group of 31 MPs, including the Conservative chair of the Commons Education Select Committee, Robin Walker, is issuing the call to Jeremy Hunt ahead of next month’s Autumn Statement.

The MPs also want to see “bold policy changes” on SEND, warning that, without extra investment, the current crisis “will only deteriorate further” and will “spiral out of control”. 

They are backing a campaign that argues the government’s planned SEND reforms will take too long to implement and lack the additional funding and resources needed.

The campaign is led by the F40 group of local authorities that historically attracted the lowest levels of per-pupil funding - predominantly in affluent, Conservative-led areas - but the letter is signed by MPs from a range of areas, covering all three major political parties.

Analysis by F40 suggests that an additional £4.6 billion is required each year to meet the growing demand and expectation for high-needs support.

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The MPs’ letter to Mr Hunt states: “Demand and expectation around SEND support are far outweighing the funding and capacity available, and the issues are expected to quickly worsen without significant investment.

“We are extremely concerned about the deepening SEND crisis and believe that without substantial extra funding and bold policy changes, the situation will only deteriorate further.”

They continue: “Without urgent investment, we fear the system will spiral out of control.”

SEND support issues ‘will deteriorate further’

The cross-party coalition urges the chancellor to deliver significant additional baseline high-needs funding, substantial additional SEND capital funding (above what has already been promised) and the removal of “historic inequalities” in the national funding formula.

The £4.6 billion calculation is based on inflation since 2015 and the increased number of education, health and care plans (EHCPs) issued over the same period.

This figure, backed by the NEU teaching union, the NAHT school leaders’ union and Association of School and College Leaders, is based on current need and does not allow for increases in need in the future or for increasingly complex pupil needs.

The majority of local authorities have deficit SEND budgets, with some reporting deficits of more than £100 million.

The latest estimates conclude that the cumulative local authority high-needs budget deficit across England will be around £3.6 billion by March 2025.

Some local authorities fear the deficits could leave them bankrupt without more support.

Long wait for SEND reforms

The Department for Education set out plans for reform in its SEND and Alternative Provision Improvement Plan, published in the spring.

The plan makes “good suggestions” but it will take some years to be piloted and for any recommendations to be implemented in full, the MPs say.

Continuing to under-resource SEND services is “counterproductive” and puts “huge pressure on local authorities to make savings in early intervention”, they state.

Mr Walker said that, while the government had increased funding in SEND, it was “very clear that demand is growing even faster” and a situation in which every local authority has a high-needs deficit “is clearly not a sustainable one”.

Some MPs are also planning to write individual letters to the chancellor urging Mr Hunt to invest more in SEND.

Paul Whiteman, general secretary of the NAHT, said today that that the crisis in SEND is “one of the biggest challenges facing the whole education sector right now” and that the DfE’s SEND action plan “ignores the single biggest factor driving the crisis - insufficient funding”.

Geoff Barton, general secretary of the ASCL, said: “The SEND system is in crisis. The scale of need far exceeds funding and resources. Ministers must shore up a broken system now by committing in the Autumn Statement to additional investment.”

The DfE and Treasury have been contacted for a response.