Today, Saturday 3rd May, school leaders’ union NAHT releases the results of a snap poll of its members showing that 4 out of 5 respondents have pupils in mainstream classes whose needs should be being met in specialist provision because of a lack of availability of specialist places.
The poll received 873 responses from school leaders across England, Wales and Northern Ireland, in both mainstream and specialist schools, and was conducted 23-28 April 2025.
82% of respondents said there are pupils in their school for whom specialist provision has been agreed in their EHCP, but they are currently being supported in mainstream classes because there are no available specialist places.
94% of respondents from a mainstream setting said that meeting the needs of pupils with SEND in their schools is harder or much harder than this time last year.
98% of respondents from a mainstream setting said they do not have the resources to meet the needs of all the pupils with SEND in their school.
Paul Whiteman, general secretary of school leaders’ union NAHT, said: “School leaders are passionate about ensuring every child’s needs are met.
“However, the needs of many pupils are becoming more complex, and the funding and resources are simply not there to meet that growing need. Our members are telling us that it is one of, if not the biggest issue in their schools. There is no higher priority now in education than fixing the SEND crisis.
“Right now, too many schools have children who should be getting specialist support who are being let down by the lack of capacity and availability of places in the specialist sector. Schools are desperately trying to do their best for those pupils but without access to the specialist help they need their hands are tied.
“We also know that many special schools are struggling to meet the demand on them for places and are massively oversubscribed.
“No one who works in schools wants to ever feel like they are failing a child, but right now, too many school leaders are frustrated that they can’t fully meet the needs of the pupils in their care, and we know many parents are frustrated too.”
Delegates to NAHT’s Annual Conference in Harrogate this weekend (Fri 2-Sat 3 May), will be debating and voting on a variety of motions calling for more funding, training and support for educating SEND pupils, and in particular calling for the number of children currently taught in a mainstream school who actually require a place in a special school to be urgently identified and accommodated.
The motion reads: “Both special and mainstream schools are over-stretched, resulting in over-subscription of special schools, and an increasing number of children whose needs would arguably be best met in a special school, instead being taught in mainstream schools. MP constituency surgeries are frequently dominated by questions from parents desperate for their children to receive the specialist education they need and deserve. The UK government needs to value and support inclusive practice for the majority while also considering efficiency and sufficiency of provision for the more complex minority.”
Mr Whiteman continued: “We are not opposed to the government wanting mainstream schools to be inclusive, and school leaders take this duty really seriously. But they need more funding, resources and specialist staffing to be able to support their students appropriately and effectively.
“And this doesn’t remove the fact that there will also always be a need for special school places for pupils with the greatest needs. Capacity in both mainstream and specialist schools must match need.”
A livestream of this motion being heard, and of all NAHT’s Annual Conference will be available on NAHT’s website: https://www.naht.org.uk/AnnualConference.
NAHT’s poll also received anonymous comments from the school leaders who responded, that illustrate the severity of the crisis:
“We are at crisis point with the level of need and what we can actually offer the children. We are not fulfilling EHCP provision as we do not have the resources. Staff morale is low and staff are leaving the profession."
“We’re a small school and we’re stretched to breaking point. The number of children coming in to nursery and reception with SEND issues has doubled over the last 3 years."
“Specialist places are increasingly difficult to get and support services are increasingly difficult to access. We want to include children in our setting and are honest about not being able to meet severe and complex needs, yet feel that we are regarded as trying to avoid inclusion.”
"We have children who would benefit from specialist provision, and this should be on their EHCP, but the local authority will not state this until the placement with us 'fails' and we can't meet need and the child is in distress."
“Mainstream schools are being expected to meet needs of children with significant need and complex cases to the detriment of their education and that of others. Recruiting staff to support these children is very difficult, almost impossible."
“We are in a deficit budget position. We are supporting children with significant needs and don’t receive the funding we need to meet the children’s needs. The impact is that it is having a detrimental impact on the education of others in school."
"School leaders are being placed in an impossible situation currently – with limited budgets and lack of suitably qualified and experienced staff to provide the support needed for children with increasingly complex SEND needs. Local authorities are under similar pressure with lack of capacity in staffing to provide schools with the support they need.”
“It is harder and harder to find external support for SEND pupils, that is timely and meaningful. Lots of professional agencies are full and have little to no capacity to support. Reports are becoming more and more generalised and the support is just not there for the majority.”
"Funding for SEND is diabolical. The pressure waiting for or fighting for EHCPs, means either children are without the funding they require or schools are having to provide out of their own pocket. This means there is less support for other children, creating a bigger attainment gap as support is pulled away for high needs pupils.”
“We are finding that children joining us in reception year who are in obvious need of an EHCP have not even had the process started at their nursery settings. This means the children have to ‘cope’ in mainstream settings while school begins the process. Staff have to manage extremely difficult and stressful situations in class without enough support or specialist help and resources while trying to meet the needs of all the other children too.”