School governing boards are urging Ofsted to ensure cash-strapped leaders are using SEND funding for children and not to fill other budgetary holes.
The National Governance Association (NGA) has today warned the SEND system is on a “trajectory toward complete breakdown” and “incremental change will not suffice”, after publishing a report on how to solve the crisis.
It is urging the government to bring special educational needs funding – which has been frozen for 12 years – in line with current costs and for education, health and care plans (EHCPs) to be reserved “for multi-agency cases”.
The organisation – which represents governors, trustees and governance professionals – has called for “national standards” for inclusive education to be drawn up to mend relations between schools and parents.
NGA chief executive Emma Balchin said: “The time for small adjustments has passed. Only whole-system change will deliver the support that young people with SEND need and have a right to expect.”
Restructure funding
Department for Education guidance says mainstream schools are expected to contribute up to the first £6,000 from their notional SEN allocation towards the costs of a child’s provision. Further funding can then be provided by councils if a child secures an EHCP.
However, the £6,000 threshold has remained the same since 2014 and “eroded by over 30 per cent in real terms”, the NGA report said, forcing “boards to choose between supporting pupils with SEND and maintaining financial viability”.
The organisation is urging the government to “apply inflation-linked indices to the notional SEN budget” to protect its real-terms value.
It also believes this would allow the threshold for top-up funding to be increased to “reflect current costs”. Doing this, NGA said, would allow councils to “focus their resources on pupils with the most complex needs”, promoting a “focus on earlier intervention”.
This would reduce “concerns about inconsistent or delayed provision caused by attempts to navigate existing inefficient EHCP processes which privilege the more socially-economically advantaged”.
The group warned the changes “must…[be] part of a concerted effort to maximise inclusion in schools”.
NGA said this should include Ofsted checking that “the notional SEN budget is being invested in SEN children, not diverted to fill other budgetary holes” as part of its inclusion drive.
Workforce training
NGA figures show just 42 per cent of boards believe their staff are equipped to support increasingly complex requirements.
It is calling for “comprehensive SEND training” from “initial teacher training through early career frameworks to national professional qualification”, adding they should “be equipped to identify needs early and differentiate learning effectively”.
Parent complaints
The report pointed to NGA research showing the scale of the “breakdown” in relations between schools and parents.
Eighty-two per cent of boards have witnessed an increase in complaints, with “SEND provision the primary concern”.
The body said boards must “champion a fundamental redefinition of how the system measures school success – shifting from narrow attainment data to indicators that genuinely reflect inclusive practice and support for children with additional needs”.
This would “help to eliminate the perverse incentives” that lead to some schools not being inclusive.
To rebuild “collaboration” with parents, NGA recommended “professional development in relationship-building for school staff”.
This would incorporate “parent engagement training” and “equipping staff to handle difficult conversations and prevent escalation”.
It also called for new “national standards” co-designed with parents, pupils and providers “establishing universal expectations for inclusive education that move beyond individual legal battles toward cohort-wide accountability”.
For schools, this would “provide clarity, and a level playing field, including certainty on the support [they] can expect from external providers”.
‘Keep EHCPs’
One in 20 children in England now have an education, health and care plan (EHCP), 11 per cent up since last year.
EHCPs attract extra funding and detail the support a child is legally entitled to, naming the school that must deliver it.
With councils “struggling to absorb” growing expenditure related to the plans, NGA argued for “cohort-based interventions for shared needs” to be implemented to reduce the “dependency” on EHCPs.
An example it gave was “the 1.5 million children with pandemic-related language delays”.
It also said that “rather than removing EHCPs or starting from scratch”, the plans should be reserved “for multi-agency cases requiring co-ordinated health, education and social care input or specialist placements”.
“Without urgent action, the SEND system will continue its trajectory toward complete breakdown, taking school budgets, workforce wellbeing, and most importantly, children’s futures with it.
“Incremental change will not suffice…the system requires fundamental transformation that addresses its interconnected failures simultaneously.”
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