Councils in London have warned that there is a growing gap in outcomes as children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). Children with SEND, they say, are being failed by a lack of funding for schools. This has led to a shortage of specialist support and resulted in the growing gap in outcomes between pupils.
Research commissioned by London Councils found that children with SEND make up just over 17% of pupils in London, an increase of 3% since 2016. With this growth comes “perfect storm of increasing pressure for schools, coupled with constraints on local authority finances” that “have left schools struggling to be able to create a supportive environment for all pupils,” according to their report.
It gave its recommendations to the government. “More funding would help to ensure the supply of sufficient specialist support for schools and families, reduce waiting lists, and ensure that decisions can be made with inclusion, rather than budgets, as their driving factor.”
The government has put the blame on the situation it inherited from the previous Tory administration. It said that while it remains “determined to rebuild families’ confidence in a system so many rely on,” reforms that parents have been “crying out for” will “take time.”
The report also sets out its own recommendations to keep up with the growing need for specialist SEND provisions. It said that “special schools are having to increase their number of places, in many cases working beyond their intended capacity.”
The number of young people in Londo with an Education, Health, and Care Plan (EHCP) that attend state-funded special schools has climbed by 55%, it said. It rose from 13,700 in 2016 to 21,200 in January 2024.
The research, which found the growing gap as a result of a lack of resources, was conducted by Mime Consulting.
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