The government is facing “crunch time” over the rising costs and failures of special needs education for children in England, according to a report by the Institute for Fiscal Studies.
The IFS said government spending on educating children with special needs would double between 2015 and 2028, “squeezing funding” for mainstream schools as a result.
“These pressures risk crowding out resources for mainstream schools and constraining the system’s ability to deliver a broad, balanced and high-quality education for all,” the report states.
The IFS report highlights the difficulties facing the government’s plans to reform provision for children with special educational needs and disabilities (Send), as extra spending has so far failed to keep up with the support required by families, schools and local authorities.
Luke Sibieta, one of the report’s authors, said the current system in England was increasingly costly and failing to deliver for those who need it.
He said: “The most important education issue facing the government is the growing dysfunction in the special educational needs system. The problems here are not new but they have been growing, and the government is right to stress the importance of reform for the sake of everyone involved – children, families, schools and councils. But we have now reached crunch time.
“In the near term, ministers face a stark set of choices: slow the growth of Send spending, accept an ongoing squeeze on mainstream school funding, or inject additional resources into education through higher taxes or reductions elsewhere.”
Bill Revans, the County Councils Network’s Send spokesperson, said: “Faced with exponential rises in demand and costs, councils have increasingly had to request that money from mainstream schools is diverted to prop up Send services, with around £150m rerouted this way last year. This, amongst other reasons, is why national Send spend per person has risen at double the rate of mainstream pupils.”
One option, according to Sibieta, would be for the government to capitalise on falling school rolls to redirect £1.8bn towards special needs funding in 2028.
A schools white paper expected next month will outline the government’s plans, including moves to expand special needs provision in mainstream state schools. That would allow more children with special needs to attend local schools rather than compete for scarce and more expensive special school places.
Pepe Di’Iasio, the general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said: “Aside from the financial considerations, it is more important still that the planned Send reforms deliver real improvements for families. While there is fantastic work going on in many schools and colleges to support young people with Send, the system as a whole is not meeting the current level of need in the way it should.”
The white paper will highlight the use of education, health and care plans (EHCPs) – legal agreements between families and local authorities that detail support for children with special needs, including the type of school they should attend.
The IFS said reducing the use of EHCPs or limiting the support they could provide “would likely be needed to meaningfully slow high-needs spending growth”, but that any savings “would be slow to materialise” and further investment would be required to improve the capacity of mainstream schools.
A Department for Education spokesperson said: “We are laying the groundwork for an inclusive education system where children are supported at the earliest stage and can thrive in their local school. That means investing £200m to train all teachers on Send and at least £3bn to create 50,000 new specialist places.
“We are backing schools with record investment – funding is increasing by £4.2bn by 2028-29 compared to the 2025-26 core schools budget, taking per pupil funding to its highest ever level and helping transform the Send system.”
