Approximate read time: 10 minutes

The House of Lords will debate the following motion on 24 October 2024:

Baroness Monckton of Dallington Forest (Conservative) to move that this House takes note of the contribution that special needs schools and specialist education colleges make to the education sector.

Baroness Monckton is chair of Team Domenica, a charity and specialist further education college supporting disabled people into work.[1]

Education is devolved. This briefing focuses on England.

1. Overview of special education settings

Over 1.6 million pupils in England were identified as having special educational needs (SEN) by the end of the 2023/24 academic year. This was 101,000 more pupils than 2022/23’s total.[2] Of those, 434,354 had an education, health and care plan (EHCP): a formal plan agreed with the local authority to support a child or young person’s needs, up to the age of 25. The most common type of need for those with an EHCP was autistic spectrum disorder and for those with SEN support was speech, language and communication needs.

Most pupils with SEN attend mainstream schools. A minority attend other settings, including maintained (state-funded) and non-maintained special schools. In some cases, an EHCP can include the local authority paying for pupils to attend independent special schools or colleges. Some pupils are dual registered, spending part of the week in a mainstream school and part in a special school.[3]

Table 1. Number of pupils receiving SEN support by type of education setting

Education setting EHCP or SEN support without an EHCP Number of pupils in 2023/24 school year
State-funded nursery EHCP 831
SEN support without an EHCP 6,315
State-funded primary EHCP 136,642
SEN support without an EHCP 651,458
State-funded secondary EHCP 99,825
SEN support without an EHCP 471,677
State-funded special school EHCP 155,619
SEN support without an EHCP 1,166
Non-maintained special school EHCP 4,059
SEN support without an EHCP 54
State funded alternative provision EHCP 3,837
SEN support without an EHCP 9,212
Independent school EHCP 33,541
SEN support without an EHCP 98,969

(Department for Education, ‘Special educational needs in England: Number and percentage  of pupils by SEN provision and school type, in England between 2022/23 and 2023/24’, 20 June 2024)

There are 1,050 special schools in England, including state- and non-state-funded schools.[4] There are around 140 post-16 special education colleges.[5]

Department for Education statistics, in table 2 below, show that over 160,000 pupils attended special schools in England in the 2023/24 academic year.

Table 2. Number of pupils attending special schools in England 2023/24

School type Number of pupils
Non-maintained special schools 4,120
State-funded special schools 156,952

(Department for Education, ‘Special educational needs in England: Number and percentage of pupils by SEN provision and school type, in England between 2022/23 and 2023/24’, 20 June 2024)

There are also SEN units in 392 mainstream schools. In these units, pupils with SEN are taught in separate classes at least half the time.[6]

Additionally, 1,168 mainstream schools have ‘resourced provision’: funded places reserved for pupils with a specific type of SEN. These pupils spend at least half their time in mainstream classes and have access to specialist facilities.

The benefits of attending special education can include:[7]

  • smaller class sizes
  • staff with experience supporting additional needs
  • specialist equipment and accessible settings
  • targets appropriate to individual needs and abilities
  • close tracking of progress and frequent contact with parents or carers
  • a focus on practical life skills such as managing money and domestic tasks
  • ease of making friends in a peer group with similar needs

In a Department for Education survey of parents and carers of year nine pupils with SEN, published in September 2024, 90% of those whose child attended a special school felt their child was well-supported overall.[8] This compared to 59% for parents and carers of children with SEN in mainstream schools.

Special schools also rated higher in the survey than mainstream educational settings for:

  • developing children’s self-esteem and social skills
  • supporting their hobbies and interests
  • helping them to manage their mental health and wellbeing
  • working with parents and carers

In 2022, the Office for National Statistics surveyed a sample of 11- to 16-year-olds with SEN. Some participants with experience of both mainstream and special schools described an overall more positive experience and a greater sense of inclusion at their special school.[9]

Scope, a charity for disabled people, has highlighted that choosing an education setting ultimately depends on the needs and personality of the individual child or young person.[10] Scope sets out that mainstream education settings in some cases offer a wider range of academic subjects and qualifications. Mainstream schools can also give children and young people the opportunity to interact with a peer group of people with and without additional needs.

2. Recent special education policy

2.1 Previous Conservative government policy

In 2021 the previous Conservative government committed £2.6bn of capital funding for special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) provision, and in 2024 a further £105mn for 15 new special free schools was announced in the spring budget.[11] At the time, the Association of School and College Leaders said it was concerned the investment was “too little too late” after “14 years of underinvestment”.[12]

In 2023 the government published a ‘Special educational needs and disabilities and alternative provision improvement plan’. This followed from a 2022 green paper and consultation: ‘SEND review: Right support, right place, right time’.

The improvement plan acknowledged that families had faced challenges and delays accessing SEN support, and resources and facilities varied across the country.[13] It also noted that local authority SEN spending regularly outstripped budget allocations.

The plan set out a goal to create a national system and new national standards so that children and young people could attend the most appropriate setting for their needs. The government set up the National SEND and Alternative Provision Implementation Board to oversee the changes.[14]

The government also announced a reform of special needs qualifications, with a new professional qualification available from autumn 2024. However, there have been reports that a lack of funding and high popularity are presenting initial challenges.[15]

The improvement plan also said the government would “re-examine the state’s relationship with independent special schools” to make sure standards were aligned between independent schools and state providers.[16]

2.2 Labour government policy

In answer to a written question on 7 October 2024, the new Labour government said it was “reflecting on what practice could be made consistent nationally”.[17]

The government has also answered a question about whether it intends to take forward the previous government’s improvement plan. The minister for schools responded:

Whilst we recognise the urgency and need to drive improvements, we are conscious that there are no quick fixes and want to take a considered approach to deliver sustainable education reform.[18]

On SEN provision, the Labour manifesto said:

Labour will take a community-wide approach, improving inclusivity and expertise in mainstream schools, as well as ensuring special schools cater to those with the most complex needs. We will make sure admissions decisions account for the needs of communities and require all schools to co-operate with their local authority on school admissions, SEND inclusion, and place planning.[19]

Measures are planned for inclusion in the forthcoming Children’s Wellbeing Bill, which would give local authorities “greater powers to help them deliver their functions on school admissions and ensure admissions decisions account for the needs for communities”.[20] The government also said the bill would make changes to the legislation around regulating and inspecting independent schools.

The government has said the bill will be brought forward as soon as parliamentary time allows.[21]

In government, ministers have repeated that their approach will be to improve mainstream inclusivity, while special schools cater to people with the most complex needs.[22] The government has restructured the Department for Education so that responsibility for SEN sits with the schools minister. This responsibility sat with the children and families minister under the previous government.[23]

In its January 2024 plan for schools, the Labour Party also pledged to improve data sharing “to pick up special educational needs and disabilities earlier”.[24]

3. Challenges in the special education sector

In July 2024, an independent report by research company ISOS Partnership, commissioned by the County Councils Network and the Local Government Association, argued that there had been too much reliance on special school places. The County Councils Network summarised:

Currently many mainstream schools, early years settings and colleges lack the capacity, resources, and in some cases, the expertise to meet the needs of many SEND children, resulting in more parents seeking ECHPs and an over reliance on special school placements.[25]

The report called for additional resources in mainstream settings.

An article in Schools Week from October 2024 also emphasised resource challenges.[26] It said that the government’s focus on building “inclusive education” capacity within mainstream schools was concerning in the context of insufficient funding and teacher training.

In August 2024 the local government and social care ombudsman, Amerdeep Somal, said that her department had seen a high number of complaints about local authority handling of SEN.[27] Ms Somal said that the sector was “simply not working for children, families or local authorities”. She continued:

The money available is not sufficient to provide the services that children are entitled to. It means young people, and their families, do not get the help they need and lose vital weeks, months and years of education and development as a result.

Some parents and carers have reported that there were no special school places available to them as the sector in their area was at capacity.[28] The latest Department for Education data, for May 2023, stated that two-thirds of special schools were at or over capacity.[29] These statistics are in development so should not be considered definitive.

Kids, a charity which supports disabled children and young people, has described the SEN system as “broken” and reported that families feel “desperate”.[30]

Concerns have also been raised that the government’s plans for the standard 20% rate of VAT to apply to private schools may affect some pupils with SEN. The draft legislation confirms that non-maintained special schools would not be subject to VAT.[31] However, concerns remain that pupils who attend other independent schools because they suit their needs could be impacted.

The government has said in response: “These changes will not impact pupils with the most acute special educational needs, where their needs can only be met in private schools”.[32] A technical note issued in July 2024 on the VAT changes explained:

Where a pupil’s place in a private school is funded by the [local authority (LA)] (rather than parents and carers) because the pupil’s needs cannot be fully met in the state sector, or are best met elsewhere, LAs will be able to reclaim the VAT they are charged on the fees of these pupils via the section 33 VAT refund scheme.[33]

Parents and carers who fund their own children’s places in independent schools would pay VAT.[34] One parent of a child with autism has sent the government a pre-action letter stating notice of intention to issue proceedings in the High Court. She contends that the government’s policy could breach her daughter’s human rights. The local authority did not agree for the child, Addison, to have an ECHP. However, her mother reports that at state school, Addison experienced mental and physical health impacts. In this case, an independent school provided additional support.

The government has said that an assessment of the impacts of the policy will be published alongside the budget on 30 October 2024.[35]

4. Read more


Cover image by Thomas G on Pixabay.

References

  1. Team Domenica, ‘Our story’, accessed 15 October 2024. Return to text
  2. Department for Education, ‘Special educational needs in England: Academic year 2023/24’, 20 June 2024. Return to text
  3. Good Schools Guide, ‘Special schools’, accessed 10 October 2024. Return to text
  4. Local Government Inform, ‘Number of special schools in England’, 12 July 2024. Return to text
  5. Department for Education, ‘Independent special schools and post-16 institutions’, 19 September 2024. Return to text
  6. Department for Education, ‘Special educational needs in England: Academic year 2023/24’, 20 June 2024. Return to text
  7. Scope, ‘Choosing a school for your disabled child’, accessed 10 October 2024; Association of Colleges, ‘Specialist colleges’, accessed 10 October 2024; and Good Schools Guide, ‘Special schools’, accessed 10 October 2024. Return to text
  8. Department for Education, ‘SEND futures: Parental perceptions of school support for pupils with SEND at age 13–14’, September 2024. Return to text
  9. Office for National Statistics, ‘Educational experiences of young people with special educational needs and disabilities in England: February to May 2022’, 7 November 2022. Return to text
  10. Good Schools Guide, ‘Special schools’, accessed 10 October 2024. Return to text
  11. HM Treasury, ‘Spring budget 2024’, 6 March 2024, HC 560 of 2023–24, pp 36 and 70. Return to text
  12. Eleanor Busby, ‘Government’s investment in new special schools ‘may be too little too late’’, Independent, 9 May 2024. Return to text
  13. Department for Education, ‘SEND and alternative provision improvement plan’, 2 March 2023, CP 800. Return to text
  14. National SEND and Alternative Provision Implementation Board, ‘National SEND and Alternative Provision Implementation Board: Terms of reference’, June 2023. Return to text
  15. Times Educational Supplement, ‘Sendco NPQ funding shortfall another SEND policy mess’, 18 September 2024. Return to text
  16. Department for Education, ‘SEND and alternative provision improvement plan’, 2 March 2023, CP 800, p 13. Return to text
  17. House of Commons, ‘Written question: Special educational needs (5145)’, 7 October 2024. Return to text
  18. House of Commons, ‘Written question: Special educational needs (6213)’, 9 October 2024. Return to text
  19. Labour Party, ‘Labour party manifesto 2024’, July 2024, p 83. Return to text
  20. Prime Minister’s Office, ‘King’s Speech 2024: Background briefing notes’, 17 July 2024, p 64. Return to text
  21. HC Hansard, 9 September 2024, col 563. Return to text
  22. House of Commons, ‘Written question: Special educational needs (6213)’, 9 October 2024. Return to text
  23. House of Commons, ‘Written question: Special educational needs (4462)’, 19 September 2024; and Schools Week, ‘SEND moved into schools minister McKinnell’s brief’, 11 July 2024. Return to text
  24. Labour Party, ‘Labour’s plan for schools’, 9 January 2024. Return to text
  25. County Councils Network, ‘Educational outcomes for SEND pupils have failed to improve over the last decade despite costs of these services trebling, new independent report reveals’, 25 July 2024. Return to text
  26. Schools Week, ‘Revealed: The full scale of Labour’s SEND challenge’, 4 October 2024. Return to text
  27. Sally Weale, ‘Special educational needs system in England in ‘utter disarray’, says ombudsman’, Guardian, 4 August 2024. Return to text
  28. See, for example: Hattie Garlick, ‘‘Our autistic son has been denied a school place’: The special needs education crisis’, inews.co.uk, 10 June 2024; and BBC News, ‘‘Living hell’ of parents seeking special schools’, 20 June 2024. Return to text
  29. Department for Education, ‘School capacity: Academic year 2022/23’, 17 May 2024. Return to text
  30. Kids, ‘Reflections on the new government and the broken SEND system’, 8 July 2024. Return to text
  31. HM Treasury, ‘VAT on private school fees and removing the charitable rates relief for private schools’, 29 July 2024. Return to text
  32. House of Commons, ‘Written statement: HM Treasury (HCWS32)’, 29 July 2024. Return to text
  33. HM Treasury, ‘Applying VAT to private school fees and removing the business rates charitable rates relief for private schools: Technical note’, July 2024, p 12. Return to text
  34. BBC News, ‘Kent mum plans legal action over private school VAT’, 9 September 2024. Return to text
  35. House of Lords, ‘Written question: Private education: VAT (HL908)’, 19 September 2024. Return to text