Cash-strapped councils are spending almost double on private schools for children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) compared with five years ago, figures show.
The cost of these placements rose from £270m in 2020/21 to nearly £500m in 2024/25 – an 87 per cent increase, according to analysis of data from 27 local authorities by The i Paper.
The figures, obtained via Freedom of Information (FOI) requests by the Liberal Democrats and shared exclusively with The i Paper, present a snapshot of the financial pressures councils are facing in meeting the rising demand for SEND support.
In comparison, spending on SEND provision in state schools across these 27 councils increased from around £550m to £840m in 2024/25 – a 50 per cent increase.
The data suggest councils are increasingly relying on private schools to fulfil the placements listed in children’s education, health and care plans (EHCPs) – statutory documents that describe their needs and unlock additional support.
Munira Wilson, the Lib Dem’s education spokesperson, said costs are “spiralling out of control with no end in sight” and called for an immediate cap on profits for all private SEND provision.
Labour’s major shake-up of the SEND system means more children will receive the support they need in mainstream schools.
The council spending the most on SEND education
Reform-run Kent County Council has the highest costs by far, spending £91m on private SEND schools in 2024/25 and increasing to a predicted £108m in 2025/26. The council also spent £164m on state special school provision, with the figure set to rise to £177m.
It means the large, rural council spent a total of £255m on SEND support in 2024/25, with costs expected to hit £285m in 2025/26. Kent County Council has been contacted for comment.
Last summer, Reform UK launched an Elon Musk-style Department of Government Efficiency (Doge) to assess wasteful spending in Kent, but senior councillors admitted to the Financial Times earlier this year that there was no significant waste to cut.
Essex County Council had the second-highest costs in 2024/25 at £128m across private and state schools. Kent and Essex are two of the largest councils in England, which is likely to be behind their high expenditure.
A spokesperson from Essex council said 16,000 children have EHCPs, and that its duty to support children with complex needs “will sometimes necessitate commissioning the independent sector”.
The council where private SEND school costs have surged by 350%
Tory-run Herefordshire Council has experienced the highest increase in costs on private SEND schools over the last five years, with a 350 per cent surge from £1.9m in 2020/21 to £8.4m in 2024/25.
For state schools, costs increased by 40 per cent over the same time period, from £5m to £7m. The council has been contacted for comment.
In Labour-run Calderdale, private SEND school spending increased by 320 per cent from £4m to £17m, while state costs increased by 59 per cent from £8m to £13m.
In response, Calderdale said is has committed to increasing specialist school places, with more SEND hubs in local schools and a new inclusion strategy for pupils in mainstream settings.
“The shortage of specialist school placements is a national issue and one which is reflected locally,” a spokesperson said. “When there aren’t enough specialist places available, students often have to travel to schools outside of Calderdale or in the private sector, which adds challenges for them and costs for the council.”
The Government’s reforms are intended to address this, with a £3bn investment to deliver thousands more specialist places in mainstream schools as well as funding for more experts such as educational psychologists and speech and language therapists.
But Hayley Harding, co-founder of SEND parent group Let Us Learn Too, said the SEND reforms fail to address the capacity issues at specialist schools across the country.
“It’s imperative that more specialist places are created in order for any reform to be successful. Mainstream inclusion will help, but it isn’t the sole answer as some children will always need a specialist place.”
Crackdown on private SEND school profits
Since the previous SEND reforms in 2014, the number of children with EHCPs has grown from 240,000 to almost 640,000.
But state special school expansion has not kept pace, with data from the County Councils Network (CCN) – published in October last year – finding that 83 per cent are full or over capacity.
It means councils are forced to use private school placements to fulfil their statutory duties. But these cost an average of £62,000 per head – more than twice the cost of a state sector place at £24,000, according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS).
Ministers have announced plans to crack down on profiteering by private SEND schools, with new “national price bands and strengthened standards” to stop costs from spiralling.
A Government spokesperson said the measures are to “ensure every specialist placement delivers real progress for children – not higher bills for councils – ending the postcode lottery that families have faced in securing high-quality SEND support”.
Councillor Louise Gittins, chair of the Local Government Association, welcomed plans to regulate the market, saying it is wrong that some private providers are “setting unreasonably high prices and making significant profits from state-funded placements”.
But there are no plans to significantly increase the number of state special schools. Instead, the Government has quietly drawn up plans to financially penalise councils that choose to build special schools rather than strengthening specialist support within mainstream schools.
Claire Dorer, CEO of the National Association of Special Schools, warned against halting plans for more special schools “ahead of having a consistent and effective offer for more children with SEND in mainstream”.
The council that cut private school costs in half
Labour-run Bolton managed to cut costs on private SEND schools by 48 per cent from £7m in 2020/21 to £3.8m in 2024/25. Costs had been rising gradually to £7.7m until 2023/24, when they dropped sharply.
State expenditure rose from £9m in 2020/21 to £15m in 2023/24, before dropping back down to £9m in 2024/25.
Bolton Council’s local SEND offer provides a single point of contact for families to access guidance. The council operates a network of special schools as well as experts who support children with SEND in local mainstream schools.
Barking and Dagenham has cut spending on private SEND schools by 13 per cent, from just under £5m to £4.3m over the last five years. Spending on state special schools has increased by 38 per cent from £11m to just under £16m over the same time period.
The Labour-run London borough said it worked with schools, parents and carers to increase the number of SEND pupils at local mainstream schools.
A spokesperson said the strategy has focused on strengthening mainstream schools’ ability to support pupils with SEND, while also “expanding local specialist provision for SEND by increasing the number of Additional Resourced Provision places and special school places”.
They added that rigerous monitoring of the high-needs budget enabled the council to “use resources as effectively as possible”.
The Department for Education said: “Our once-in-a-generation SEND reforms are transforming the system – backed by £4 billion to ensure specialist support is available in every school and community, at the earliest possible stage, without having to fight for it.
“We’re also backing councils with £3.7bn to create 60,000 specialist places across the country and help drive our target of inclusion bases in every secondary school, so that more children can thrive in a school that’s right for them.”
Hence then, the article about how much your local council is spending on send schools was published today ( ) and is available on inews ( Middle East ) The editorial team at PressBee has edited and verified it, and it may have been modified, fully republished, or quoted. You can read and follow the updates of this news or article from its original source.
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( How much your local council is spending on SEND schools )
Also on site :
- Saudi Arabia suspends in-person classes in multiple regions amid heavy rain
- ‘Saturday Night Live’ Opens With Donald Trump And Pete Hegseth Reveling In The Prospect Of Bombing Iran Again
- Artemis II astronauts receive hero’s welcome as they return to Houston after splashdown back on Earth