The Department for Education has said £740 million of capital funding announced in the Budget will be used to create more specialist places in mainstream schools.
The capital investment is part of the government’s plans to reform special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) provision and support more pupils to stay in mainstream education.
It has also announced that it will not enter into any new Safety Valve agreements for councils with financial deficits as it is working on wider reforms to the SEND system.
The funding for specialist places in mainstream can be used to adapt classrooms to make them more accessible, or to create specialist facilities in schools that can deliver support for the needs of pupils with SEND.
The announcement does not include any additional funding. The DfE said the funding forms part of the £6.7 billion capital settlement announced for the department in October’s Budget for the next financial year.
Funding allocations will be confirmed in the spring, when guidance will be published outlining how councils can use the investment to improve local provision.
The education secretary Bridget Phillipson said that building a system where more children with SEND can attend mainstream schools is “central” to the government’s reform plans.
“The current picture is stark,” she said. “For too long, too many children with additional needs haven’t been getting support early enough, with dire consequences when issues escalate.”
Paul Whiteman, general secretary of the NAHT school leaders’ union, welcomed the announcement, but said it “must be just the beginning of sustained investment, not only in specialist facilities and increased special school places but also support for children with special educational needs and the professionals who provide this”.
Ensuring provision is equitable across the country
More funding should ensure provision is equitable across the country, he said. It would also help to address shortages in educational psychologists and speech and language therapists, and to write off local authority high-needs deficits.
Leora Cruddas, chief executive of the Confederation of School Trusts, said the funding announcement has the potential to make a difference to children in schools and will help get pupils the support they need more quickly.
It comes after a Tes investigation revealed an increase in the use of specialist resourced provision (SRP) and SEND units in mainstream schools, and concerns about a lack of oversight, funding and guidance to support them being run.
SRP is officially defined as a specialist facility on a mainstream site for a small number of pupils who are otherwise in regular classrooms for most of their timetable. Pupils in SEND units are based there for at least half of their time in school.
A National Audit Office (NAO) report, released in October, said that schools have limited incentives to be inclusive. The NAO called on the DfE to reform the funding and accountability systems, and to build an evidence base of how mainstream schools can best support pupils with SEND.
In November, the education secretary announced the appointment of two new SEND advisers, as well as the creation of an expert group on neurodiversity to improve inclusivity in mainstream schools.
Today, the department revealed the appointment of Professor Karen Guldberg as chair of this new Neurodivergence Task and Finish Group.
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