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 honestly don’t think those working in send departments care, if they did they would be whistleblowing.

likewise with many Sendcos in schools, yes I see some shouting and genuinely trying to help but then you have the Sendco in my child’s school who said my son doesn’t have the right to an education as he will amount to nothing

Did they actually say that though?

then you have the Sendco in my child’s school who said my son doesn’t have the right to an education as he will amount to nothing

Really?

Did you complain?
Becsuse thats an i
Outrageous thing to say all children are entitled to an education.

5.4% of children have EHCPs.

You can have SEN that needs additional support without qualifying for an EHCP.

I think there needs to be a threshold and many parents will need to take their of their own child instead of relying on school as a babysitter.

It isn’t unlimited funding - it’s 5.4% of children and schools have to pay the first £6000 per year for each child.

"I think there needs to be a threshold and many parents will need to take their of their own child instead of relying on school as a babysitter."

Are you saying some children shouldn't have an education?

It is unlimited funding. There is no limit to the amount of funding that can be allocated to meet an EHCP. It isn't capped.

I know - former SENCO. I started out with Statements of SEN, learned the EHCP process, and with the upcoming changes I won’t be returning to the role.

It’s effectively capped by council budgets, hence the bankruptcies.

I went above and beyond as a SENCO for 22 years and cared very much. We are people with feelings and children of our own.

Council funding in real terms suffered massively under the Tories and now those decisions are coming home to roost.

https://ifs.org.uk/publications/how-have-english-councils-funding-and-spending-changed-2010-2024

"Key findings1.

Taking the period 2010–11 to 2024–25 as a whole, councils’ overall core funding is set to be 9% lower in real terms and 18% lower in real terms per person this year than at the start of the 2010s. The reduction is set to be larger for councils serving deprived areas (e.g. 26% per person for the most deprived tenth) than for the less deprived areas (e.g. 11% for the least deprived tenth)."

Not only that, but there has been a significant increase in expenditure on Adult Social Care:

"In 2023/24, local authorities in England spent approximately £23.3 billion (net) to £32 billion (gross) on adult social care, marking a significant rise due to increased demand. This represents the largest area of council expenditure, accounting for 39p of every £1 spent, with spending on working-age adults and older people being roughly equal."

Councils are projected to spend around £15 billion on SEND this year, far less than on Adult Social Care.

I have no skin in this game, neither of my children have any SEND.

But it strikes me that SEND kids are an easy target. No one wants to take money away from Granny, so let's take it away from little Harry with his autism diagnosis.

Not wanting to derail but what happens to all the SEN kids once adult costwise and worklife?

We will have a new batch of SEN kids to fund.

Well technically I suppose but that's not exactly a managed cap is it. Imagine placing that kind of unfunded and unlimited liability on any other body! The average household pays less than £3k council tax and these placements can cost hundreds of thousands of pounds for one child. National finances are in a terrible state and we have an economy already struggling under a massive tax burden.

We can't go on pretending that we can meet everyone's needs irrespective of cost. We will end up in financial catastrophe and an IMF bailout will see all vulnerable people suffer immensely.

I think the imminent reforms will see vulnerable people suffer immensely.

Agreed.

Google what happens in an IMF bailout. Look at the UK in the 1976 and how public spending had to be slashed. More recently look at the Spanish bailout. They had to reduce education spending by 13%. What do you think a bailout like this would do to SEN kids?

"It is unlimited funding. There is no limit to the amount of funding that can be allocated to meet an EHCP. It isn't capped."

Councils never spend more on an EHCP than they have to.

Parents can go to Tribunal but the wait currently is over a year and councils deliberately push it all the way to the week before Tribunal and then concede knowing that they will 'lose' at Tribunal - but have saved funding a year's provision on the way. And even then the council still doesn't sometimes provide knowing that the only way the parent can enforce it is by judicial review. And even then they sometimes still don't provide it so contempt of court action is needed.

"and these placements can cost hundreds of thousands of pounds for one child."

The very expensive placements are almost always residential placements which would have to be provided any way regardless of education or not.

It is still unlimited funding though. That's the point. It's needs based rather than working out how much money we have to spend on SEN and allocating children a set budget from this.

Under the current rules this is true. Who knows what will happen in the future if we simply can't afford this anymore? Look at people being denied life extending cancer treatment on cost grounds. Nearly half of people wait more than 4 hours to be seen in A and E. You wait half an hour for an ambulance on average in an emergency. What I'm saying is that there is a lot of things that really should be happening that simply aren't in this country due to limited funding. Whether we can continue to justify hundreds of thousands of pounds per year for anyone is debatable. This may mean to a lowering of standards and a failure to meet some needs but we are already routinely not meeting needs all over the place. People are literally dying everyday through preventable causes due to a lack of funding. We need to be honest about our financial situation and allocate resource in a sensible and sustainable way.

Yes, we will. But I’m not really sure what else people suggest we do with them that doesn’t cost money.

Some children will be a cost to the tax payer for their whole lives. Our son will be. He’ll never work, will require ongoing care, and will likely require some sort of supported living/residential package. He will never pay employment tax, because he’ll never be employed.

There isn’t a solution that makes him suddenly able to work, or makes him free to care for. The budget for SENd has to come from somewhere, because it’s a part of the welfare system that is a genuine necessity IMO.

The way to save money would be to not use providers who are profit making but there isn't enough provision in the state sector for children with complex needs.