As reported by The Standard, a report warns that underfunding is forcing schools to prioritise budgets over inclusion, leaving students with special needs without crucial support

Children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) are being failed by a lack of funding for schools, leading to a shortage of specialist support and a widening gap in outcomes between pupils, a new report has warned.

Ministers have been urged to boost funding to allow schools to make decisions ‘with inclusion, rather than budgets, as their driving factor’.

The research commissioned by London Councils – the capital’s local government association – found that children with SEND currently make up just over 17 per cent of the city’s pupil population, an increase of three percentage points since 2016.

With this growth has come a “perfect storm of increasing pressure for schools, coupled with constraints on local authority finances”, which “have left schools struggling to be able to create a supportive environment for all pupils”, according to the report.

The report set out how, to keep up with the growing need for specialist SEND provision, “special schools are having to increase their number of places, in many cases working beyond their intended capacity”.

It pointed out that the number of young people in London who have an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) attending state-funded special schools has risen by 55 per cent, from 13,700 in 2016 to 21,200 as of January 2024.

Councillor Ian Edwards, London Councils’ executive member for children and young people, said: “This report shows the clear benefits that inclusion in schools can have for both children with and without SEND. Currently, school leaders and London boroughs show commitment to inclusion, but in practice they are not always able to deliver. This has to change, and we need all education partners and Government to come on board to support schools to move towards a genuinely inclusive education model.”