SEND - children’s needs to be reassessed from year 6 2029?

I understand concerns. I think there are probably a fair number of kids that would have good outcomes if the correct support was in place in mainstream.

At the moment too many get left behind because teachers aren’t adequately trained to deal with neurodivergent kids and behaviour issues and the class sizes are too big.

I know when I was at school there were a lot of kids even then that got written off because they had Autism/ ADHD and were just presumed to be badly behaved. I only left high school 18 years ago which seems ages ago but I bet mainstream hasn’t changed much even now! Some say it’s even worse.

I can see what they are trying to achieve, but definitely why people are worried about not getting the support they need. I’d write to your MP with your concerns if I were you.

My son is physically disabled and a specialist school wasn't even considered. The only time it was even brought up is when I was told in general terms that all nearby special schools either take autistic children only or require a diagnosis of global developmental delay neither of which my son has.

He does have an EHCP and is thriving in mainstream school with 2:1 support but I have a feeling that they will want him in one of these hubs now which concerns me.

IF (and only if) a child’s needs mean they can be successful in mainstream school, then that opportunity should be given to them. I speak from experience.

When I was at primary school in the 90s, they wanted to move me to an SEN school because they argued they couldn’t afford support for my physical disability, which luckily my parents contested. I wouldn’t have had the same outcomes if I’d been sent to a specialist school.

I think it’s a good thing if they are investing in support for those who are capable of mainstream education where funds have been lacking previously and kids have been sent to specialist schools to absolve mainstreams of the responsibility.

They're not fiddling the numbers. You haven't read the post properly.

Mine is average intelligence but not able bodied and he doesn't need special school. He is thriving with his EHCP in mainstream.

I just hope it isn't removed and he's stuffed in a hub inappropriate for him to save money.

It's all very confusing because on one hand it says that but it also says that they plan to remove EHCP's from the majority of children in mainstream.

My worry is that they will take my son's EHCP away and think one of these hubs they have planned is appropriate for him which I don't think will be the case because he is absolutely fine in a mainstream class of 30 with support but it seems as I won't be legally allowed to fight for what I believe is best for my child any more which is simply terrifying.

There is no specialist school that will take my son other then an independent provision.
And yet they have named a mainstream (did not consult any other mainstream then this one after all specialists said they couldnt meet need).

I dont understand how they make these decisions, I asked the coordinator and they said the panel said that my child had to try mainstream first.

Even though his little primary school can not meet needs even with a 1 to 1.
No education for 2 years, been on a part timetable for years to.

And now I have to find the money for independent reports, and more pressure on my family when we are barely getting by as it is.

I would give anything for my child to go to school happy, be educated and belong thats all we want.

I dont want above and beyond, just for my child to be able to have the same as all children.

@Playingvideogames has brought up the financial aspect
This post therefore doesn't relate OP

I don’t know what others think but looking past Labours spin this white paper is a cost saving exercise.
Whilst I agree the cost to councils is high I’m concerned This proposed strategy is going to hurt the education of all kids.

How do we make life’s skills and education better for everyone ( and I do mean everyone ) on a smaller budget. ??
This new system is similar I think to
some other countries

eg Finland Renowned for a three-tier support system (general, intensified, special) in mainstream schools, ensuring all children have access to high-quality education regardless of needs.
and
Canada which places children in regular classrooms, supported by well-versed teachers, making it a leader in inclusive education.

Compared to the current U.K. budget
Finland- budget is lower per pupil
Canada- budget is higher per pupil

Theoretically then the two could be achieved.

This!!

That’s the point: if a LA school can meet need and has a place, parents don’t just get to say “oh actually I’d prefer the indie specialist up the road that costs more than Eton, please”. If the LA provision can’t meet need and/or doesn’t have a place, parents typically still need to go to a Tribunal to get the indie specialist.

Fwiw my DS9 was also offered a place at specialist without Tribunal, but he’d been hoofed out of two mainstream LA schools (that could supposedly meet his needs) before he’d even finished Y1 so they took the path of least resistance. He is thriving now and working in greater depth across the whole curriculum, despite missing so many months of education.

@BlueandWhitePorcelain

Don’t be coming on here with your factual information. There’s a devolved, and completely irrelevant to today’s conversation, LA that is spending… an amount… of money that is presumably paid by all council tax payers, including those with SENd children.

We’re not talking about overspending, we’re talking about total spending as a % of council tax take. Stop fiddling the numbers.

Yes we didn’t have to go tribunal to get independent Sen school but the LA knew there was no place for her anywhere else.

SEN spending is also funded centrally. The council tax payers only fund SEN, when the council spends more on SEN, than the SEN grant from the government. Where is the Welsh equivalent of the DfE high needs funding block, which should be shown in the income section of the Neath Port Talbot accounts?

According to this

https://www.gov.wales/budgeted-expenditure-special-educational-needs-sen-and-additional-learning-needs-aln-provision-april-2025-to-march-2026-html

Average spending per ALN pupil in Wales for the year was budgeted to £1,486 - not a huge amount.

I looked at another LA in England. The high needs funding grant from the DfE was £215 million, then £19 million was netted off for academies. The shortfall on SEN expenditure was £51 million, but with a county population of 1.2 million, that works out as £42.5 per person for the year. I’d have to go through 10 borough councils’ websites to find out how many council tax payers there are, which I am not going to waste my time on. However, our council tax this year for two of us is £3,380 (and we live in an average house for this town) - an extra £104 pa on SEN spending is immaterial!

Total budgeted spending on services for 2026/7 is £1.2 billion - £51 million overspending on SEN is 4.25% of total spending!

You need to look at the actual SEN grant versus SEN expenditure for Neath Port Talbot council, not a Mickey Mouse breakdown.

It doesn't help anyone to say things that are untrue. Two of mine attend schools like this and did not need tribunal to get it. However, they both had a raft of robust reports that showed they wouldn't cope in any other type of provision.

That’s fine. Again, doesn’t change the financials.

Two of mine are able bodied and of at least average intelligence and go to independent special school costing way in excess of £50,000. For good reasons, without tribunal.

I can’t find the original comment just those who have quoted it but I wanted to touche base on the post surrounding the cost and how people don’t begrudge the cost for severely disabled people but those who are clearly academic getting a 53 k a year education.

my daughter is one that currently costs 73k a year for her to attend school.

she missed 75 percent of primary school due to ill health. She attends school with lines and tubes - Cerebral palsy, autism, and Mutiple organ issues.
she went to a mainstream primary when she was able to attend and others access work she could do from home. If you walked past her in the street you would never know she was any “ different “
when in mainstream school she never learned to write not because she wasn’t capable but because she couldn’t access English work because she couldn’t have a scribe or a laptop - or someone to teach her touch typing. Her reading level in year 4 was reception level because she couldn’t do Phonocs due to her CP effecting speech and the sounds not being correct.
in year 5 and year 6 she finally got a 1-1 just for her and was able to access these things. She went from the above to finishing her Sats at 107, 99 and 98 despite all the work she missed. By the time she started secondary school she could read fluently, maths was mildly behind to average.
she couldn’t get in to any mainstream school “ couldn’t meet need”
the Sen schools were either SEMH etc or the one we thought she would go to which is more for children with her needs couldn’t take her because her academics meant she didn’t match the cohort and she would Have purposely be left behind because she was more academic than the cohort.

the only school in a 25 mile radius that said yes was a academicall able independent Sen school in which she started at and is now in an environment where she is writing news articles, stories, coming second in her maths exams … so this in turn means she will likely get her GCSEs and go on to further education and make something of her life and contribute as an adult.

Parents are scared. They have vulnerable children and have fought hard to get support in place . Then reforms come in which might take away that support or take away the mechanisms they use to enforce that support. Its fear.

I think the current system is crap and could be improved- i even believe that costs could be stabilised and improvements be made with good reforms.

But i am still scared that if changes arent thought through carefully all that will happen is poorly supported chikdren with no reduced cost.

For instance the remaining ehcp students are proposed to fit into some specialist provision packages that are pre-determined. The proposal suggest these neat categories 5 or so of them. one talks about externalised behaviour and one about internalised behaviour, one about adapted curriculum, one about comms - but the children at my sons special school need 3 of those categories. They might shut down, they might lash out, they might self harm, they need a different curriculum, they need therapies listed in one of the other profiles. Im not sure why they think complex sen is so neat.

Precisely. The “boundaries” talk is usually a tell tale sign that someone either doesn’t have a clue, or is just outright not interested in learning.

I taught for 5 years, in specialist provision. Following that I now have over a decade of experience in staffing and training for specialist provision. I am qualified in de-escalation, positive handling/restraint, and augmented communication. I have written EHCPs, sat on SENd and Inclusion panels, worked with PEX and attendance at LA level. I’m not sure how much more qualified I have to be for the disabled child that lives in my house.

That training isn’t always helpful. There are still days I look at him and I’m absolutely stumped. I can tell you, for an actual fact, that traditional behaviour management does not work for him or children like him. I know, because I’ve tried, and learned.

DD1 got her EHCP for her brain malformation and learning disability. Her geneticist is convinced she has a genetic syndrome but despite being in the DDD study and 100,000 genomes study, they haven't found it.

She wasn't diagnosed with ASD until 15, 11 years after starting special school.

I asked pretty much the same question in another thread yesterday but they couldn't answer. Only to say adults pay towards their social care costs, but that's not always the case and actually those with the most significant needs are unlikely to pay anything at all because they have limited income. ASC costs are also a huge expense to the taxpayer. I think OP just has a gear to grind against those with invisible disabilities because they don't believe they're real disabilities. Hence all the comments about poor boundaries etc.

Have you even read the link? It doesn’t cover education. It says “Council spending on education services has been excluded.”