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.

Then you haven’t got a clue. LAs don’t give provision just because a parent wants it. SENDIST doesn't Order provision just because a parents wants it and if they did the LA would be quick to challenge the decision.

And thats where' they will go if its found to meet their needs.

Look at the rise in EHCPS. Do you think we have suddenly had an absolute explosion in very high needs pupils?

I truly think parents of children with milder needs are fighting tooth and nail for EHCPs as they’re seen as a passport to a higher level service.

Theyre supposed to be for the most disabled children but how can they be when 5% of kids have them now? More than 1 in every class.

The rise in EHCPs doesn’t mean parents get provision just because uses they want it, though. They don’t.

More are seeking EHCPs for numerous reasons such as OAP being more limited, the increased focus on attendance, less flexibility within the system, changes to the curriculum, NHS services being reduced...

A child can have an EHCP in a mainstream

That certainly doesnt mean the parents will get high cost provision, they will get provision that meets their child's needs.
And
Sometimes not even that.

"Why would you pay parents teacher rates? I have never suggested that."

As a qualified teacher if you expected me to teach my child at home why wouldn't I expect to get the going rate for it?

You are correct - but she’s fighting it - £1m for two children a year. 😭

"Not all children with expensive placements need a lot of specialist equipment."

Have you been inside any expensive placements? If you did you would see the expensive educational equipment in them.

At a guess, most LAs are.pissing away an awful lot of money on refusing to assess and/or support children with additional needs, and then having to prepare for,attend and be represented at Tribunals where something silly like 90%+ of their refusal are ruled unlawful and are overturned. IMAGINE if they spent even a small amount of their legal bills on supporti g kids instead.

(I am a mum of an Autistic, pretty much non-verbal child who can't cope with busy environments, transitions, can't fed themselves meals without support and needs help with hygiene. He can't communicate if he is thirsty/hungry/hurt/needs the toilet etc. We've spent a lot of time and money to determine his needs so we can help him now, yet the LA refuse to assess - our privately paid for evidence shows his (fairly significant) needs are understood, and so he doesn't need the support for those needs and will be fine with no help or support in a mainstream school class of 30 children.......make it make sense!!!! Safe to say, we are taking them to court as their decision is unlawful as well as morally shameful. All that will happen is they will be forced to assess him, then argue over issuing a support plan, causing us a lot of heartache and almost certainly ensure he doesn't have a suitable school place in time, so he loses a year's education......🤷🏼‍♀️

Yep.

I'm perfectly content that my son with an EHCP is in mainstream. He is supported very well at the school he's at and I see no need to push for special provision just because he has an EHCP.

Of course, that may change if mainstream high schools in a few years say that their settings aren't suitable or even sooner if things change and they decide he doesn't need an EHCP any more because he's in mainstream.

In those cases, I would have to fight for special provision which would likely be more expensive.

You dont need the number of high needs children to increase for ehcps rates to explode.

They are for children who need something over and above ordinarily available provision.

If, via austerity for instance, your ordinarily available provision gets worse you push more children into the category of needing something over and above. Especially if you add in a new heavy fast paced curriculum.

Ive witnessed schools go from affording a full time TA in every class, regular visits from LA support services like SaLT, floating reading tutors running interventions, play leaders to help social issues in the playground .. to just a class TA in the morning shared between classes. LA support vanished and was reserved for 'statutory work' and playleaders gone. An ehcp is the only way to access what used to turn up with far lower thresholds.

SEN spending has increased year upon year upon year for a long time now. We are years and years away from the days of proper austerity and punishing cuts. We can’t keep using it as an excuse for much longer.

The way I see it (and the evidence supports me), the rise is down to an exploding bomb of ADHD and autism diagnoses.

I truly think we will reach a point where being ‘NT’ will be a minority.

We are years and years away from the days of proper austerity and punishing cuts.

But after over a decade of austerity, those punishing cuts year after year have left schools stripped to the bone and unable to cope.

EHCPs are based on needs, not diagnosis.

Having a diagnosis doesn’t mean a CYP will have an EHCP. Equally, a CYP can have an EHCP and not have a diagnosis of anything.

I wasnt referring to sen funding being impacted by austerity.

I was referring to the mainstream funding meaning the mainstream offering is not as good as it was. I see many school budgets as i work for 3 trusts. The savings they have to make mean mainstream is worse. It means ehcps are needed for pupils that didnt need them even 10 years ago.

Both of which are very large spectrums
Many children with either or both wont need an EHCP.

and there's also plenty of children who need an EHCP but are also NT. Like my son.

No the evidence does not support it at all. Autism and ADHD are under diagnosed and under supported in this country. Autism rates are 1.7% ADHD 3-4%.

Autism and ADHD diagnoses do not give you SEND provision - need does.

Diagnosis is higher, lots of kids previously would have got by without one - they might have struggled academically or with MH granted but nobody would have picked up on SEN as an issue. As PP’s also said, premature babies live now and they have a higher risk of SEN.

Plus covid actually caused lots of issues, especially with speech delay. My DS was born in lockdown, it may be coincidental but there’s 5 boys in his class including him with SEN, seems high to me. My other DC are NT and I’ve gone over and over what was different about him, the only real factor is Covid.

Anyway there’s basically more SEN kids than councils can cope with nowadays.

Please consider your language. I have a child diagnosed with these conditions. She is not a "bomb".

DH almost certainly has them too. He went to Cambridge, works in the public sector and shows little tendency to explode!

I didn’t refer to children as bombs.

I was referring to the ’exploding’ diagnosis rate.

Either way your post was incorrect

Refusal to assess appeals are nearly always held on the papers with no hearing and no barristers.

In our LA only 1 in 8 parents will challenge a refusal to assess, and of those only 25% will go to tribunal after mediation.

Language does matter though.

Do you not see what the government are doing: scapegoating a vulnerable group?

Do any disturbing parallels from history not occur to you?

I know

Does she pay for the legal costs out of her own pocket I wonder