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.

There have been some very insightful comments on this thread.

Inclusion has its roots in the 1978 Warnock review and so it’s not a new policy.

I am glad that it’s been mentioned that the LA’s have actually been forced to use private provisions because they can’t build new schools. Even opening resource bases or extending placements within them requires rounds of public consultation that prolongs the process for years. You have to ask yourself who does it benefit to handcuff and restrict education like that?

As I said there is lots of correct info on this thread. However this is my unsubstantiated opinion and that is, better natal care aside, what environmental factors are heightening a higher amount of dysregulation? What is it about our food? Lack of walking, lack of being outside playing? Rise in general electronic buzz from mobiles and tv’s constantly on? The culmination of these things on little bodies is surely having a negative effect.

Hard agree.

Subjective diagnostic criteria?
Genetics?
Older parents?
Screens?

I think these days what lot of people consider to be needs used to fall within the category of wants.

Anyway I see what could have been quite an interesting discussion around SEND funding policy has degenerated as usual. Twas ever thus (on Mumsnet).

100 per cent

My friend is an EP

She was given a list of kids to see few weeks ago
She has now been told to pause the assessments until April

My god
What ? 😬😬

'Level 1 autism' is not a thing in the UK btw.

Lol no one is getting the best education money can from the LA. Non disabled kids are getting better education than disabled. Severely disabled and the lucky few are getting better than the the in betweeners who are getting minimal borderline rubbish education or in some cases nothing at all

It makes no sense that we ‘have more disabled children now’

The advances of modern medicine meaning that children are surviving situations they wouldn't have previously survived are amazing, but can bring complications. It's not just that babies are being born profoundly disabled and surviving (though this does obviously still happen) it also means that children are surviving with seemingly NO issues. Until they become apparent. A surprising number of our SEN register were born prematurely or with birth complications that could have been devastating 40 years ago. The baby might seem fine, a little delayed with motor skills or speech, but able to walk, talk, potty train etc, but by the time they get to school, there are considerable delays.

What I mean is how is it sustainable

Maybe for the next year at a push??

I am disgusted, but not surprised, by the complete lack of empathy displayed here. Targeting the most vulnerable in society to remove funding and resources from? How about we target the corrupt in government, the billionaires hoarding wealth, or the criminals bleeding the country dry!!

Absolutely

I equate Starmer with Farage

Such

A

Letdown 😡😡😡😡😡😡

I suppose I was thinking of some specific and particular costs. For instance, if you have the means (taking into account the additional costs of a disabled child) to, for instance, pay the transport costs for your child to school then maybe you should, send or not.
And I agree with many that a completely different provision and organization of facility and schools would be preferable; but I also think it won’t happen. And that councils won’t be able to pay rapidly escalating costs

What I mean is how is it sustainable

It will just carry on-hundreds being spent on locum EP day rates, thousands being spent on tribunals. It will just mean that money isn't available to give pupils with EHCPs the level of funding they need.

We need to see what the white paper brings, I guess. Scrapping of EHCPs? Removing the need for an EP as part of the SA? Who knows. I can't imagine it will be good.

Also I do wonder how many more children with SEND there is compared to how many are diagnosed.

When I think back to my class at school (I'm late 40's) I can think of at least four children out of the 60 of us (two classes but we were mixed up for different subjects) who in hindsight weren't simply naughty or bad or, in one case, mad. Now as an adult I can see that they had obvious needs.

One boy in my class was expelled from ever school in out council and ended up back at ours. At the time as a 10 year old I thought he was ridiculously naughty. Now as an adult I can see the obviousness of his meltdowns when he was pushed beyond limits by the noise and the absolute screaming of our teacher.

By the time we were in P4 there was one boy who wasn't allowed in the classroom at any point. He had a desk in the corridor because then if he chucked his chair there was less chance of it hitting someone. Again, at the time he just seemed outrageously naughty, but now clearly not.

That schools and councils are now expected to actually treat children with needs properly and not just stick them in a corridor for several years has an impact. But that doesn't make it a bad thing, it's appalling that children were written off and ignored from 7/8 years old.

The other big impact on schools is the cut in other services.

My DN lives with us. His speech delay was flagged by his Mum when he was 12 months. Then 18 months. He was briefly assessed and put on the waiting list right after his second birthday. After she died and he came to us we had to redo the brief assessment so lost about 5/6 months of waiting time. We've been told he'll likely be seen when he's 4. He is due to start school at 4.5 so he's likely to start with speech issues that have only been worked on by a professional (obvs we're doing our best, but we're not speech therapists) for six months. Despite the issue being known for years.

Yeah I reckon my friend's two children cost at least £250,000/ year -private owned SEN school places and a taxi driver and chaperone each way ( the schools are 15 miles ISH away in different directions)...
(Hee husband earns about £250000/year so I do think they could fund some of this)

So they still need to keep Ep's until 2028

So still lots of money needed

It's a shambles

Fcking hate labour so badly

With the two children I know they have always had whole food , no screens, lived.pretty much outdoors

So maybe it's more societal - air pollution etc

I know in our local council it costs thousands of pounds a day to collect children by taxis and take them to school
And for many children this includes Autism and ADHD
Its bankrupting local councils
The parents don’t work
They have plenty of time to get their own able bodied children to school
Its happening all over the country

Elder care is the biggest reason behind council’s insolvency, isn’t it?

I think we live in a neo-liberal and corrupt capitalist mess. But also, it’s easy to be disgusted if you’re not the one trying to keep
councils and services afloat. From
a big picture level yes - the shit show of corrupt billionaires should be called out. The failure of the left is heartbreaking and the rise of anti-immigrant small state rhetoric likewise. But I don’t think the current mess of unsustainable spending (within the current and unlikely to be reinvented system) will be solved by railing at the system when we consider what
may well be coming down the road

But not all of these will need or be offered specialist provision. Of she's a mainstream teacher and 10 kids in her class have SEN that's 10 kids not in a specifically supportive unit. So doesn't really explain the cost does it?

That's what our LA is doing but only because it has the means to do so..
A lot of LAs are in dire straits financially and cutting everywhere else to the bone
I feel uncomfortable that everything else has bargain basement funding ( inc mainstream schools) and then SEND children can have hundreds of thousands spent on them

There needs to be more balance and parity

We need roads that aren't riddled with potholes, libraries with books in, decent drs surgeries , playgrounds that aren't shut due to dilapidation,.youth groups to be funded again (all their funding was stopped), subsidised bus services. ..

Over 94 million was spent on taxi services for ASN in 24/25
tripled in a decade …

it’s easy to be disgusted if you’re not the one trying to keep
councils and services afloat

Exactly. It's easy to say we shouldn't challenge SEN expenditure if you aren't paying attention to devastating levels of cuts in all the other council services

SEND funding issues are not just about children. EHCPs can run until the end of the academic year of the young persons 25th birthday if they are still in education or training some residential colleges cost around £400k per year and then there is some travel allowance in top of that - so it can soon mount up even if a young person only attends for three years.
Generally there is a shortage of specialist placements and so many children are then needing to attend independent specialist settings at huge costs for LAs. There seem to be some less scrupulous providers about - one company was trying to open a specialist setting at a rugby club locally but luckily OFSTED refused to register it as the location and aettting were far from suitable and nobody had ever heard of the company. Very worrying.
One of the issues for LAs is that they are legally obliged to make provision to provide funding meet children’s needs in an EHCP- even if their budget is already spent. It’s a kind of bottomless money pit really so budgets are seriously overspent and unpredictable which is why SEND is considered such a risk financially and why it really could tip an LA into ‘bankruptcy’.
Another issue is the government’s planned reforms for SEND which are believed to be about more ‘ inclusion’ and a reduction in EHCPs. Consequently, demand for new EHCPs is at record level in many LAs. To run an EHCP assessment costs at least £20k so this is also impacting the overall spend.