UK Inquiry Tracker

Support for children and young people with special educational needs

Public Accounts Committee Closed Inquiry

Opened: 31 Oct 2024 Closed: 3 Apr 2025 Parliament page

Around 1.9m 0-to-25-year-olds in England were identified as having special educational needs (SEN) in January 2024, with 1.7m at school. Between 2015 and 2024 there was a 140% increase to 576,000 in people of this age group with education, health and care (EHC) plans laying out their legal entitlement to … Read more Around 1.9m 0-to-25-year-olds in England were identified as having special educational needs (SEN) in January 2024, with 1.7m at school. Between 2015 and 2024 there was a 140% increase to 576,000 in people of this age group with education, health and care (EHC) plans laying out their legal entitlement to support. The Department for Education’s (DfE) 2024-25 budget for local authorities’, schools’ and colleges’ spending on educational support for children with higher needs is £10.7bn. In 2020, the Committee found that many of the 1.3 million school-age children in England with SEN were not getting the support they needed, with their education, wellbeing and life chances damaged by failings in provision. The report warned that the DfE did not have a grip on mounting pressure in the system, with joint Ofsted and Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspections finding that 47 of 94 local authority areas had significant weaknesses. The National Audit Office (NAO) reported in 2024 that the SEN system is financially unsustainable without reform. The DfE’s 2024-25 budget has been increased to its current level of £10.7bn by 58% since 2014/15. With an increase in EHC plans, real-terms funding per plan fell by 35%. It also warned that when accounting arrangements stopping deficits impacting local authorities’ financial position end in March 2026, two-fifths of local authorities will be at risk of effectively declaring bankruptcy. The report highlighted a lack of confidence amongst families and children in an SEN system that often falls short of statutory and quality expectations, and is described by the DfE as increasingly adversarial. Based on the NAO report, the Committee will hear from senior DfE officials on subjects including: - Performance of the system; - The overall picture on the support available and outcomes achieved for those with SEN; and - Government action to create a sustainable SEN system and restore confidence. If you have evidence on these issues, please submit it here by 23:59 on 11 November 2024. Please note the Committee is unable to help with individual cases. If you need help with an individual problem you are having, you may wish to contact your constituency MP . Please look at the requirements for written evidence submissions and note that the Committee cannot accept material as evidence that is published elsewhere. Show less

2 Recommendations

8 Conclusions

1 Report

1 Oral session

4 Letters

1 Event

Activity timeline 8 events

19 May
2025

Correspondence

Letter from the Permanent Secretary of the Department for Education relating to the ESFA's policy on publishing investigation outcome repor…

6 May
2025

Report published

Treasury minutes: Government response to the Committee of Public Accounts on the First report from Session 2024-25

15 Jan
2025

Report published

1st Report - Support for children and young people with special educational needs

15 Jan
2025

Correspondence

Letter to the Permanent Secretary of the Department for Education and Department of Health and Social Care relating to the First Report of …

16 Dec
2024

Correspondence

Letter from the Permanent Secretary of the Department for Education relating to the Committee’s oral evidence session on the 18 November 20…

9 Dec
2024

Correspondence

Letter from the Director General, Primary Care and Prevention for the Department of Health and Social Care relating to the oral evidence se…

18 Nov
2024

Oral evidence

Support for children and young people with special educational needs

18 Nov
2024

Formal meeting (oral evidence session) · The Grimond Room, Portcullis House

Support for children and young people with special educational needs

Oral evidence sessions 1 session

18 Nov 2024

View on parliament.uk

Support for children and young people with special educational needs

Alison Ismail · Department for Education Jonathan Marron · Department for Health and Social Care Juliet Chua CB · Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office Susan Acland-Hood · The Department for Education

Reports 1 report · click to expand

Title	HC No.	Published	Items	Response
1st Report - Support for children and young people with special …	HC 353	15 Jan 2025	10	Responded

Recommendations & Conclusions

10 results

2 Conclusion Accepted

1st Report - Support for children …

Ensure DfE and DHSC collaborate to understand rising SEN demand and propose efficient support provision.

Without fully understanding why demand for support has increased, the Department’s ability to provide value for money is undermined. Over the last decade, demand for EHC plans has soared. In January 2024, there were 3 576,000 children with EHC plans, … Read more

Government Response

The government agrees with the recommendation but states it cannot meet the six-month deadline, promising further detail later this year. It highlights ongoing efforts and existing programmes, such as the Nuffield Early Language Intervention and the Partnerships for Inclusion of Neurodiversity in Schools programme, to address rising demand and promote early intervention.

HM Treasury

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3 Recommendation Acknowledged

1st Report - Support for children …

Require DfE to define inclusive education, outline expected SEN provision, and detail necessary resourcing.

The Department has not made clear what it means by inclusive education, a core strand of its approach, or how it will be achieved. A core aim of the Children and Families Act 2014 was supporting children with SEN in … Read more The Department has not made clear what it means by inclusive education, a core strand of its approach, or how it will be achieved. A core aim of the Children and Families Act 2014 was supporting children with SEN in more inclusive mainstream schools, but the Department has made little discernible progress. It has not defined or set out what inclusive education should look like, or provided specific funding for inclusivity, despite this being at the heart of its approach. There are few incentives for schools to be inclusive, with performance data focussing only on academic attainment and no separate judgement by Ofsted on SEN. Schools can often feel that others are not accepting their share of children with SEN. Local authorities have limited influence over academies to affect these decisions. This is also an issue in regard to selective education settings (e.g. grammar schools) found in parts of England. The Department acknowledges that it has not looked hard enough at barriers to inclusivity. It suggests that the ongoing curriculum review and proposed changes to Ofsted inspections provide an opportunity. In June 2023, only 56% of teachers felt confident to support children with additional needs, and the Department has several initiatives underway to improve training. It is also funding training for additional educational psychologists to provide both more support within schools and undertake assessments for SEN. The 2014 Act was intended to identify needs earlier, but the Department does not have a defined process or specific funding to achieve this. 4 recommendation The Department should, within the next six months, set out the provision which children with SEN support should expect. Alongside this, they should set out what inclusive education means and looks like, and the level of resourcing both to ensure the support for children with SEN and the maintenance of educational provision for other children in the same setting. The Department should also set out how i Show less

Government Response

The government agrees to work towards a more inclusive education system but states it cannot meet the six-month deadline, promising further details later this year. It mentions ongoing efforts in teacher training, including a January 2025 review of National Professional Qualifications with a focus on SEND, but a clear definition of inclusive education, expected provision, or detailed resourcing plans remains unstated.

HM Treasury

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4 Recommendation Accepted

1st Report - Support for children …

Require DHSC to detail ICB SEN prioritisation, workforce plans, and targets for reducing waiting lists.

Accessing health expertise presents a significant barrier to identifying and supporting SEN needs. DHSC plays a critical role in the SEN system. It jointly published with DfE the Code of Practice and 2023 improvement plan and is responsible for overseeing … Read more

Government Response

The government agrees, stating Integrated Care Boards (ICBs) already have board-level executive leads for SEND. It commits to publishing the NHS 10 Year Plan in spring 2025 and a refreshed Long Term Workforce Plan in summer 2025, which are intended to address current and forecast SEN skill shortfalls and waiting lists as part of broader health system reforms.

HM Treasury

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5 Conclusion Acknowledged

1st Report - Support for children …

Require central government to involve local authorities in solving critical SEN financial challenges.

Departmental witnesses could not provide any potential solution to the critical and immediate financial challenges facing many local authorities due to persistent and significant SEN-related overspends. The impact of these are being deferred under the temporary “statutory override” scheme, which … Read more Departmental witnesses could not provide any potential solution to the critical and immediate financial challenges facing many local authorities due to persistent and significant SEN-related overspends. The impact of these are being deferred under the temporary “statutory override” scheme, which is due to expire in March 2026. This is currently expected to cause nearly half of all English local authorities to be at risk of effectively going bankrupt. With increasing demand for EHC plans, most local authorities have overspent their annual high-needs budget each year since 2016–17. This has contributed to growing cumulative deficits for many 5 local authorities within their dedicated schools grant budgets, with others using reserves to cover SEN costs. Since 2020, local authorities have been able to exclude these deficits from their main revenue budgets, so avoiding these overspends impacting their overall financial position. However, this only hides the deteriorating financial situation. When this arrangement ends in March 2026, 66 local authorities (43%) could be at risk of breaching their statutory duty to set a balanced budget, and so would be effectively bankrupt. Despite the obvious urgency, there is no solution in place to what will be an estimated £4.6 billion cumulative deficit. The Department is discussing the issue with the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) and HM Treasury, but says the issue is complicated given local authorities’ differing financial situations. There is a real risk of unfairness in the treatment of local authorities given some have accrued SEN-related deficits and others have avoided doing so. Left unresolved the issue risks undermining the whole of local government finance. recommendation Given the risks to local authorities’ finances, central government must urgently involve local authorities in conversations to develop a fair and appropriate solution for when the statutory override ends in March 2026, clear Show less

Government Response

The government agrees with the urgency of addressing local authority SEND overspends and Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) deficits but states it could not set out plans by March 2025. It intends to set out further details for reforming the SEND system later in 2025, which will include how local authorities will be supported with deficits and the transition from the statutory override scheme.

HM Treasury

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6 Conclusion Accepted

1st Report - Support for children …

Mandate DfE to provide support for local authorities to manage long-term sustainable SEN spending.

In the longer term, the SEN system remains unviable with piecemeal interventions, such as Safety Valve, doing nothing to provide a financially sustainable system. Based on the Department’s current forecasts on the need for SEN support, the annual gap between … Read more In the longer term, the SEN system remains unviable with piecemeal interventions, such as Safety Valve, doing nothing to provide a financially sustainable system. Based on the Department’s current forecasts on the need for SEN support, the annual gap between funding and forecast costs across local authorities will grow to between £2.9 billion and £3.9 billion in 2027–28. Since 2021, the Department has introduced the ‘Safety Valve’ and ‘Delivering Better Value’ financial support programmes for those local authorities with the worst deficits. However, these do not include all local authorities and will not deliver enough savings, merely acting as a short-term sticking plaster. The Department argues that the situation would be worse without these programmes but also recognises that more needs to be done. Due to a state sector capacity being unable to meet rising demand, local authorities are spending more on costlier independent school placements for children with EHCs - £2 billion in 2022 (46% more than 2018–19) - although the Department wants to rely less on these settings. Home to school transport for children with SEN has seen a 77% real terms cost increase since 2015. The Department needs more granular data so it can work with local authorities to better manage these pressures. 6 recommendation Moving on from its ‘Safety Valve’ programme, the Department must provide specific support and guidance so all local authorities can effectively manage their SEN-related spending sustainably in the longer term. To ensure investment allocation decisions maximise value for money, demand forecasting is vital. This joint work by the Department and local authorities should include differentiating between the number of places to be provided in mainstream and specialist state settings. It should also ensure that any spending on independent schools and transport costs reflects value for money. The Department should work with local authorities to identify ways in which more accountab Show less

Government Response

The government agrees and commits to publishing the Delivering Better Value in SEND toolkit and further detailing SEND system reform plans this year. It also launched new data collection for school transport in February 2025, will publish guidance on transport partnership working soon, and continues to improve demand forecasting data collected since 2023.

HM Treasury

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7 Conclusion Acknowledged

1st Report - Support for children …

Establish DfE to improve SEN data and create a costed plan with clear outcome metrics.

The Department’s ability to reform the system is hindered by a lack of data, targets and a clear, costed plan. The Department accepts the need for major change, but lacks a clear, costed plan to push forward reforms and measure … Read more

Government Response

The government agrees, highlighting improvements to EHCP (SEN2) data collection from 2023 and the publication of SEND Futures study findings in December 2023. It notes an almost £1 billion funding increase announced in Autumn Budget 2024, but the comprehensive, fully costed plan for improving the SEN system with concrete actions and metrics is still pending, with further details expected later this year.

HM Treasury

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1 Conclusion Accepted

1st Report - Support for children …

Evidence reviewed from DfE and DHSC on support for children with special educational needs.

On the basis of a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General, we took evidence from the Department for Education (the Department), and the Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC) on support for children and young people with special … Read more

Government Response

The government states it is working with Ofsted to improve accountability and expertise, has appointed a Strategic Advisor for SEND, and will continue working with the Ministry of Justice to understand rising appeal rates, potentially delivering SEND training for caseworkers in 2024.

HM Treasury

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8 Conclusion Accepted

1st Report - Support for children …

DfE acknowledges persistent failures in the SEN system and lack of improved outcomes.

The Department acknowledged that the SEN system is not working well enough and said it wanted to change the system.10 There has been no consistent improvement in outcomes for children and young people since

Government Response

The Department acknowledges the variation in SEN support and states that it has already completed detailed work with local authorities to identify the drivers of these differences and secure improvements. They describe current work and publications regarding this issue.

HM Treasury

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9 Conclusion Acknowledged

1st Report - Support for children …

Parental confidence in SEN system is low, with declining EHC plan processing times.

The Department described how parental confidence provided a core indicator of an effective SEN system but that, with a third of parents having children with SEN in the state system feeling their child did not get necessary support, the system … Read more

Government Response

The department recognises that some families struggle to get the right support they need, when they need it, and aims to address issues causing Tribunal appeals through broader systemic reform. It will work with the Ministry of Justice, the SEND Tribunal and local authorities and consider building on previous work to deliver training sessions for local authority SEND caseworkers.

HM Treasury

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10 Conclusion Acknowledged

1st Report - Support for children …

Increasing EHC plan tribunal appeals indicate systemic failures and poor value for money

Parents are also increasingly appealing EHC plan decisions with the proportion being taken to a tribunal, parents’ final recourse for complaints, increasing from 1.6% in 2018 to 2.5% in 2023. The number of decisions appealed increased from 6,000 in 2018 … Read more

Government Response

HM Treasury

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Government Response AI assessment · 10 of 2 classified

Accepted 5

Acknowledged 5

Total 2 recs + 8 conclusions

Correspondence 4 letters

19 May 2025 To committee Letter from the Permanent Secretary of the Department for Education relating to the ESFA's policy on publishing investigation outcome reports correction, 17 May 2025

Parliament page

15 Jan 2025 From committee Letter to the Permanent Secretary of the Department for Education and Department of Health and Social Care relating to the First Report of Session 2024-25, 13 January 2025

Parliament page

16 Dec 2024 To committee Letter from the Permanent Secretary of the Department for Education relating to the Committee’s oral evidence session on the 18 November 2024, 02 December 2024

Parliament page

9 Dec 2024 To committee Letter from the Director General, Primary Care and Prevention for the Department of Health and Social Care relating to the oral evidence session held on 18 November 2024, 02 December 2024

Parliament page