To ask you to explain SEND funding and bankrupt councils to me?

[Myanna]

I've read a few articles like this one:

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2026/feb/05/send-costs-bankrupt-english-local-authorities

But I don't understand why the cost of funding SEND is so high that it's going to potentially/actually make most councils insolvent.

It's not like provision is generous or easy to get, from what I've read (I don't have a child who is supported).

Were these kids previously just not supported in any way by the state and was it left to families to cope as best they could?
Are these kids who previously wouldn't have survived, but now do because of better medical care and therefore need a lot of help?
Is this private equity running enterprises and charging huge amounts to local authorities?
Is it just inflation and the cost of employing people?

I really don't know much about this at all but I'm sure many on here do, so I'd really welcome your knowledge.

I don’t know but then I read posts on mn where posters say it costs the LA £375k a year for their one SEN child’s education so times that by how many children are in each LA I can see the expense

I think it's because there are more kids diagnosed than there used to be. My friend who's a teacher says it used to be one or two kids per class and now it's a third of the class.

In the case of my son, he attends a specialist independent SEMH school. There’s only one ‘state’ SEMH in my county that takes from younger than year 3 and my son has attended his school from year 2, previously was out of education. Though actually, it’s irrelevant as the school is full. Fuller than full in fact, as are all LA specialists, forcing LA’s to have to use independent specialists.

The school is 22 miles away so they pay me a set amount per year in place of a taxi as it’s cheaper than the taxi he would otherwise have to use. I should say, the amount given doesn’t cover the full cost of petrol but is cheaper for them than him in a taxi and better for him that I take him.

He doesn’t go to the most expensive school by any measure but it is an independent specialist and is significantly more expensive than a LA specialist would be but there just aren’t the places.

On top of that, is the fact that they made us fight for the place like our lives depended on it, taking it to tribunal, which is also costing the LA money. Now replicate my scenario countless times over and there’s a significant amount of money involved.

SEND is in the rise especially high level SEND. Children that would have previously have died are now living, more very premature babies are surviving as are very early multiples.

SEND funding has been cut to the bone for years and in the 2000's the push was for inclusion rather than special schools.

Now there aren't enough special schools places due to closure and now more children needing them. These children are being transported across cities, to neighbouring boroughs and educated in independent schools due to lack of places. Some even in residential schools as no suitable school nearby.

It's a bit of a catch 22. Big investment in more special schools are needed but councils can't afford it due to paying over the odds due to the issues.

A bit like the NHS, lots of stop gaps and add ins to cover short term issues which costs more than long term restructure and change.

Its very similar to the PIP abuse that is going on.

When you make eligibility so wide you end up with hundreds of thousands of extra claims.

And because this is a statutory expense, councils have to pay for it. So what ends up happening because they are almost bankrupt is that they stall as much as they can in granting EHCPs.

Private Equity and Taxi transport companies are hoovering billions of pounds of taxpayer money from this latest grift on the taxpayer

So what needs to happen is the removal of the statutory requirement to pay for the EHCPs. You will see those costs deflate like a balloon.

Its a very complex situation.

Staffing costs are high. Transport is also a significant cost.
I live in a city. My current foster child attends a specialist school 15 miles away. There is no suitable school for them in the city. So he is taxied there. In a class of 6 with 3 staff. Plus other specialist staff.
Costs soon add up

There's far more EHCPs than there were Statements of Special Educational Needs. There's fewer council run or state funded special schools and they have waiting lists. There's a lot more private providers who are profit making and as the LA has a duty to provide education then they can charge what they like. Some children who have to travel a long way to a suitable school will do this by taxi and may need an escort. Once at school they may need one to one support and the school may also have to provide SALT and other interventions which are costly. (They may also not actually provide these but are paid for them which is another matter.)

There's more children surviving from being born prematurely who have needs, there's more emphasis on getting kids actually into school and tracking them whereas in the 90s nobody was that bothered if little Jimmy didn't turn up then there's the fact that the English National curriculum is very weighted to academic achievements and many schools and academies are not welcoming or accessible places for children with additional needs. So although a child with ASD might theoretically be able to access the curriculum, the fact the school requires things like wearing a polyester blazer, always having to track the teacher with their eyes in class or just not having a decent lunch break can make it really hard for that kid to be in that school and to keep attending. Their mental health goes down the toilet and they start to either need section 19 provision or if they're lucky they might get a plan issued.

In the LA I work for there are many kids with a plan that costs over £100,000 pa. Plus transport. Costs have gone up, funding hasn't. Combined with an increased need for adult and children social care councils are just running out of money

Yes. And that spending comes at the expense of the non-SEND kids.

And that is not acceptable anymore as its the non-SEND kids who end up getting a poorer education.

More children are receiving EHCPs, and the plans come with additional money. There are many more children being diagnoses with neurodivergence and/or behavioural issues and their needs cannot often be met by current mainstream or special schools so they are often given places at private SEN placements that come with huge costs for the councils as they have no control over the prices they charge.

I only have experience of bog standard state primary education but the explosion in numbers is crazy. In many of my classes, 3 or 4 kids (out of 30 ish) had a one to one TA. So 4 or 5 adults in the room teaching groups with similar needs when several years ago the ability spread was much smaller and 2 adults would have been the norm (ie teacher and class TA). It was chaos. Pretty much Impossible to teach with so many conversations in the room. My LA also spends 5% of the entire education budget on taxis for kids to get to school. Totally unsustainable.

Parents are better educated on what is available and what they must do to get the best provision for their child. They understandably don't care about the impact on budget, they just want the top school and care for they children because they deserve the best.

Oh and yes the cost of tribunal and the delays that causes!

And that spending comes at the expense of the non-SEND kids

This is not true at local authority level as SEND support comes from the High Needs Block of the Designated Schools Grant.
It may be the case in individual school settings.

It’s because for every child that cannot be taught in their local mainstream the council pay for transport. Every child that is in school but not a mainstream the council pay, that might be private at 5k a term day school plus transport it might be 25k a term boarding school.

With higher diagnosis and fewer council ran local specialist schools the prices rocket. A friends own child costs the council 120k rounded down a year in private day schooling and transport. He wont ever work or live independently so also costs in careers and dla though that’s at central level. As sad as it is my friend’s child costs a fortune in basically pure childcare at secondary level.

What we need however is more local specialist units. It would be cheaper and better for the children as they wouldn’t be sent away boarding or an hour on transport.

we also due to medical assistance keep more babies and children alive that we did even 10 years ago. With a lot of those children suffering from some type of condition from it. So the issue will keep rising as more medial intervention happens and we keep more people alive with quantity over quality.

It’s the cost of the private send school placements, the LA have to provide a place that can meet the needs of the child, that can be in hundreds of thousands, plus transport, plus whatever the child needs, specialist teachers, occupational therapy, speech and language, etc , even wheelchairs etc , it’s whatever they need to get to,school, or one to one home teachers … and LA’s get no where near the level of funding for this

Multiple factors for diagnosis and need increasing:

• children surviving that would have died
• older parents
• neurodiversity being genetic
• lifestyle factors (screen time, attention)
• genetic inbreeding in some communities

Put all those things together and the need has increased while the funding has decreased in real terms.

We need to start having some difficult conversations as society about responsibility.

Problems with this article -

1. Some council leaders claim x,y and z..
2. A handful of councils refer to “SEND deficits” (what are they? Why is there a deficit?)
3. Literally no analysis of what “SEND costs are or what can cause deficit other than the statement- by the journalist- that much of the rising cost is because of an increase in EHCPs
4. No explanation for what an EHCP costs (on average or the most expensive)
5. No explanation for why these costs cannot be centralised government costs rather than local council costs given that the law is statutory And so on…

What happens to the kids then? Where do they get an education? Where else do they cope?

You will have to figure it out.

The days of unlimited funding are over.

If you see what the taxi drivers were doing with asylum seekers and their GP appointments then do that for every external service a school like this might need, you get the idea. Men who can game the system, will.

@Happytaytos
You can have as many difficult conversations as you like.
What are you going to DO about severely disabled children?
Run them over because of “genetics”?

@Tableforjoan
Do you seriously think that doesn’t already happen?
You’ve heard of special schools and residential schools, right?
And so you know how expensive they are..?

I mean yeh I quite agree that the costs are unsustainable but just wondering what the alternatives look like.

There’s also the statutory override issue which means the budgets declared have not reflected the SEND budget deficit

www.lgcplus.com/finance/breaking-send-deficit-override-extended-20-06-2025/