Ministers are facing calls to explain how a £6bn funding shortfall in special educational needs and disabilities (Send) provision in England will be paid for. The government is under pressure to clarify its plans after Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced in the Budget that the Treasury would take over full responsibility for Send costs from local councils from 2028.
Spending on Send by councils has reached £12bn this year, a 66% increase over the last decade, with billions spent over budget to meet legal duties. The Office for Budget Responsibility highlighted a £6bn shortfall in 2028-29, rising to £9bn by 2030-31, on top of £14bn of extra spending since 2020 held off balance sheets by local authorities. The watchdog described it as a “significant fiscal risk”, equivalent to a 4.9% cut per pupil in the schools budget.
Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson reassured Labour MPs that extra Send costs would not fall on core schools funding but on the overall government budget. She suggested the OBR’s presentation was misleading and said reforms would bring costs down, for example by creating more local specialist places to reduce demand for expensive private provision. Currently, educating a child in a specialist state school costs £26,000 per year, compared with £63,000 in private provision.
Labour MPs have expressed concern about the impact of Send reforms on families, with help already slow and difficult to access. Helen Hayes, chair of the education committee, said council deficits were “a symptom of the wider crisis” and called for urgent clarity on how reform would be delivered. The Treasury has not clarified where the money will come from, and changes to the system are unlikely to cover the whole deficit.
The Institute for Fiscal Studies said the government had three choices: reduce Send spending growth through reforms, give the Department for Education more money, or cut the schools budget. A white paper on Send reform is expected early in 2026.
