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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
National
Patrick Butler Social policy editor

Special needs services in England face ‘total collapse’ from increasing demand

A teacher helps vision-impaired boys colour a lizard using raised type they can recognise by touch in a special needs class
Rising numbers of children require extra teaching support in schools. Photograph: Marmaduke St. John/Alamy

Special educational needs services in England face “total collapse”, with councils on course to have run up debts of £18bn by the end of the decade as a result of increasing numbers of children requiring extra teaching support in schools.

Without urgent structural reform of the system, the cost of accelerating demand for special educational needs and disability (Send) support could push about 59 upper-tier authorities into effective bankruptcy by March 2028, councils have warned.

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