The government has announced a £3bn investment to create up to 60,000 specialist places within mainstream schools for children with special educational needs and disabilities (Send). Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson said the scheme would 'transform lives' by ensuring local schools can cater for these pupils, reducing the need for long-distance travel to specialist provision.
The funding will be partly sourced from suspending a group of planned free schools, saving an estimated £600m, with the remaining £2.4bn coming from departmental spending outlined in November's budget. The move comes amid a surge in legal appeals by parents over Send provision, with tribunal cases rising for the ninth consecutive year to 25,002 in 2024-25, an 18% increase on the previous year.
The Department for Education (DfE) is working on reforms for a schools white paper due early next year. Schools Minister Georgia Gould said the white paper would examine 'every aspect of the school system', including behaviour and the high exclusion rates among Send pupils. The DfE aims to make schools 'inclusive by design', with children with special needs attending local schools alongside their peers.
Critics have pointed to the scale of the challenge. Madeleine Cassidy, chief executive of the Independent Provider of Special Education Advice, said the tribunal figures 'expose the scale of unlawful decision-making in local authorities', calling it a 'systemic failure' that must be addressed in the white paper. Of the cases decided by tribunals, 99% were found in favour of the appealing families.
The suspension of free school projects includes a Middlesbrough sixth form planned in collaboration with Eton College and the Star academy chain, though two other sixth forms by the group in Dudley and Oldham will proceed. The DfE said 15 special and alternative provision free schools would continue as planned, while local authorities could choose to complete the remaining 77 projects or receive equivalent funding.
