Education Secretary, Bridget Phillipson, wants to see more units for pupils with SEND (special educational needs and disabilities) in mainstream schools, in a shift away from special schools, under plans due to be unveiled this autumn.
But Martin Nicholson, the Barking and Dagenham Council official who Phillipson’s Department for Education approached after reading his report on the authority’s SEND units strategy, is now warning that she is not providing enough funding to replicate the idea.
The country’s largest heads’ association has told The i Paper it has similar concerns.
The DfE pointed to Becontree Primary, and Barking and Dagenham’s SEND reforms in March when it announced £740m in SEND capital funding, partly to create similar units in other mainstream schools across the country – creating a central plank of the new SEND system.
He told The i Paper that he welcomed the £740m but warned “it’s never going to be enough” to create SEND units in mainstream schools across the country.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson speak with children at Perry Hall Primary school in Orpington (Photo: Richard Pohle/WPA Pool/Getty Images)“I would like to think that that is a starting amount,” he said. “This is not a one-time investment. This is something they’re going to have to invest in over a longer period.”
Running costs of new units ‘overlooked’
“Once those provisions are set up, there needs to be a consideration around funding for the ongoing management running of those provisions, because they don’t come cheap with staffing levels and equipment and all those things associated with those spaces,” Nicholson said. “The management and the day-to-day running come at a very high cost.”
But Nicholson said it was still not enough, with every unit full and “substantive” waiting lists building up due to a sharp rise in those needing support. As a result, school budgets were being pushed into the red.
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“It’s impossible to set up these provisions to appropriately meet the needs of children with complex SEND needs without there being an additional cost on one hand to the high needs block, and to school budgets,” he said.
Williams, from NAHT, warned that local authorities already have so much debt from SEND spending that much of the additional £1 billion high-needs funding might not reach schools.
A DfE spokesperson said: “This government inherited a SEND system on its knees, which is why we are listening closely to families and teachers as we work to make sure more children can achieve and thrive in their local school.
“But we know there is much more to do, and with our focus on improving support, we will set out our plans to ensure all children get the outcomes and life chances they deserve later this year.”
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