Bridget Phillipson, the education secretary, is to give herself the power to turn down new private special schools, in a clampdown on private-equity backed firms “sucking money out of our education system”.
The move comes after the SEND proposals in the Schools White Paper proposed tighter regulation and financial transparency over special school fees, as council spending on such placements has increased to more than £2 billion a year.
The rise accounts for almost 25% of the total rise in high-needs spending since 2018.
In the White Paper, the Department for Education (DfE) said it was concerned “placements in the sector are contributing to unsustainable financial pressure” on councils “without clear evidence they are leading to better quality support, outcomes and value for money”.
The education secretary would have the power to refuse the expansion or opening of new private special schools where there is limited evidence of demand from councils, according to an article in Schools Week.
Phillipson told parliament that she would act “to clamp down on the massive expansion in private equity-backed, independent specialist provision that is sucking money out of our education system into profit when it should be focused on outcomes for children”.
DfE analysis found of the 15 private equity funds that own independent special schools, five are based outside of the United Kingdom, including Jersey, Guernsey, USA, Qatar and Abu Dhabi.
Collectively, they own 170 schools with 9,000 pupils and charge an average of £63,000 per child a year – more than twice the £26,000 cost of a state special school, according to government analysis. Some charge more than £100,000 a year.
The DfE expects the average fees councils can “pay will be lower in cash terms from 2028-29”.
