Whitehall is continuing to tighten its grip on councils’ SEND functions by forcing them to agree to prioritise mainstream specialist places or face having capital cash withheld.
Town halls will be required to sign a new “memorandum of understanding” (MOU) on how to spend £860 million of high needs capital cash for 2026-27.
This “should start” with ensuring that there are enough places in mainstream schools, including through inclusion bases – which ministers expect to be in every secondary school.
But if they intend to spend it on expanding special school or alternative provision, a “clear evidence-based rationale” must be provided.
While the MOU is not legally binding, councils which fail to “evidence the outcomes” may have funding reduced or pulled entirely in future years.
Julia Harnden, policy deputy director at the ASCL school leaders’ union, warned that if funding proves insufficient to set up effective inclusion bases, and there isn’t enough special school capacity, “there is a danger that children and young people could fall through the cracks”.
It comes after Schools Week revealed how councils will be given top marks if their SEND deficit proposals include “little to no” plans to increase capacity in these schools.
Ministers will sign off local SEND reform plans in the coming months, which in turn will release government cash to plug 90 per cent of their deficits up to April this year.
Special schools over capacity by 11,000 pupils
Although the government strongly recommended that councils used previous high needs capital funding to invest in mainstream provision, they have favoured expanding special schools.
Special Need Jungle research found that just a third of new places created by last year’s £740 million grant would be created in SEN units or resourced provision.
It comes amid a capacity crisis in special schools, with 11,000 more pupils on roll than they had room for last year.
Harnden said it was important for councils to have “a degree of agency” to ensure “that funds are spent in the best interests of communities.”
The MOU states that it “formalises the partnership” between councils and the DfE to “facilitate efficient use” of the funding, but it does not alter statutory duties.
It also states that an overall strategy for the investment should support “inclusion at the core of high needs sufficiency strategy, resulting in more children and young people with SEND accessing suitable places in mainstream”.
Special places must be ‘sufficient’
Other outcomes include that every pupil who needs a place in an inclusion base can access one, and that fewer need to travel a long way to access a placement. It should also improve suitability of the mainstream estate.
The last point states that there should “be sufficient” special and AP places for pupils “with the most complex needs, where these needs require a distinctive offer which only special or AP settings can deliver”.
Pauline Aitchison, chair of the National Network of Special Schools, said the MOU “clearly prioritises investment in mainstream inclusion, but it risks placing further barriers in the way of expanding specialist provision at a time when demand is rising rapidly”.
Andre Imich, former DfE SEND adviser, said the department is “aiming to strengthen its direction of the use of their grant” and increasing external accountability and scrutiny.
“However, in the short-term, the absence of any changes to the statutory framework, and the lack of clarity as to which types of need are defined as ‘complex’, mean the full ambition set out in the DfE MoU will remain a significant challenge across the country.”
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