Town halls across the country are making plans to create new and more places for SEND children, to reflect changing needs and cut spiralling costs.
In the past week, at least three local authorities have released proposals on how to tackle the growing crisis in the sector.
In North Tyneside, the plans include expanding the age range of an existing special school while closing a unit for children with moderate learning difficulties.
In future, Silverdale School, an over-subscribed special school, will admit pupils from the age of four to 16 years, rather than the current entry age of seven years.
However, many local people have disagreed with the closure of the special unit, claiming children may have to travel further to get the support they needs.
The council also wants to open two SEND units in primary schools, including two 12-place units located within two primary schools. One will focus on language and communication and the other on social, emotional and mental health needs.
More places in mainstream
In Oxfordshire, proposals include educating more SEND children in mainstream schools to cut costs.
The county council wants to expand its ‘enhanced pathways provision’ into 40 state schools to support more young people with special needs, including pupils who are non-verbal.
The council said it needed to find new solutions to address the imbalance between government funding and local demand, and is forecast to have a high needs funding deficit of £153 million by next year.
Councillor Sean Gaul, Oxfordshire County Council’s cabinet member for children’s services, said, “We need government to come forward with a plan about how we’re going to address the deficit.
“Allowing it to build up in an override account, without anybody being clear about who is going to cover this, is not an answer.”
News of the expanded provision came as Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission (CQC) reported that the county had taken “effective action” to make improvements in services and support for children and young people with SEND, following a critical inspection in July 2023.
High cost of SEND provision
On average, it costs councils around £10,000 each year to teach a child in a mainstream setting, but that rises to £24,000 for children attending a state-funded special school.
But with demand for these places outstripping the number available, councils are increasingly placing children with SEND in private special schools, at a cost of £64,000 per child each year.
Councils also fund the transport to and from these more specialist settings, adding to the rising costs.
Mr Gaul said that reducing the council’s reliance on private special schools, and the “enormous” costs involved, will allow more funding to go into mainstream schools.
Oxfordshire also committed to providing an additional 240 state funded special school places, with the intention for 100 more, to reduce the number of children being taught in more expensive settings.
Expanding special schools
Meanwhile in Bradford, councillors are expected to approve more than £22m funding to create an extra 450 special needs places.
Bradford Council’s executive will be asked to sign off the funding to expand existing special schools and create new SEND places to tackle a shortfall, which currently stands at more than 330 places.
A report to the council’s executive said efforts to create more SEND spaces had been hampered by a government decision in 2023 to refuse the opening of a new special school.
It added: “Bradford, like many local authorities, is struggling to meet the needs of a growing number of children with EHCPs or that require additional support.”
It said the problem was creating issues “such as overcapacity in schools and classrooms”, pupils “travelling long distances” to school and “increasing numbers being placed in the independent sector due to a shortage of places”.
