Spending review includes £760 million for SEND 'reform'

Reform of the SEND system now appears highly likely after the government allocated funding for it in their latest spending review.

Last week chancellor Rachel Reeves confirmed that the core schools budget would increase by £4.7 billion in cash terms by 2028, a rise in per pupil funding of around 1 per cent. However, this includes £410 million for the recently announced extension of free school meals, as well as a £615 million contribution (also previously announced) to the costs of next year’s 4 per cent teacher’s pay award. Also included in the core schools budget figure is £760 million for ‘reform of the SEND system’, most of it earmarked for the 2026-27 academic year.

The government intends to set out their SEND reform plans in a white paper this autumn, which they say will ‘make the system more inclusive and improve outcomes for all children and young people’. Funding for education, health and care plans (EHCPs) partly comes from local authorities, which has contributed to widespread pressure on local government budgets in recent years. A treasury spokesperson added: ‘The government will also set out further details on supporting local authorities as the government transitions to a reformed system as part of the upcoming local government funding reform consultation’.

In analysing the spending review, Luke Sibieta from the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) pointed out that the government forecasts spending on SEND will rise by over £2 billion in real terms by 2028. ‘If this occurs, then the best schools could hope for is a real-terms freeze in mainstream school funding per pupil between 2025 and 2028’ he said.

The news of imminent SEND reform comes as the latest data from the Department for Education (DfE) shows that the number of pupils with EHCPs has continued to rise. The percentage of pupils with an EHCP now stands at 5.3 per cent in 2025, up from 4.8 per cent last year. There are 482,640 pupils with EHCPs in schools in 2025, up from 434,354 the previous year. EHCPs were first introduced in 2014, and since 2016 there has been a steady trend of increases in the percentage of pupils with one. It has been reported that the government’s white paper will consider whether EHCPs are still the ‘right vehicle’ for a reformed SEND system.

Recent years have also seen a focus on the use of both SEND units and resourced provision to meet the needs of pupils with SEND within mainstream schools. (SEN units are special provisions within a mainstream school where the pupils with SEN are taught within separate classes for at least half of their time. Resourced provisions are places that are reserved at a mainstream school for pupils with a specific type of SEN, taught for at least half of their time within mainstream classes, but requiring a base and some specialist facilities around the school). The latest figures show that in January 2025 there were 449 schools in England with SEN units, an increase from 392 in 2024. There were also 1217 schools with a resourced provision, a slight increase from 1168.

Commenting on the potential SEND reforms, general secretary of the NEU Daniel Kebede said: ‘Schools have, for far too long, been trying to paper over the cracks left by the shortfall in SEND funding and covering for SEND, speech and language and mental health specialists as well. Systemic and cultural change and investment to make mainstream schools more inclusive through the forthcoming White Paper, the review of the curriculum and assessment and reform of Ofsted, is urgently needed to turn around the SEND crisis and give SEND students the access and experiences they need.’