The issue
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School leaders have welcomed the current government’s commitment to a more inclusive education system.
However, the previous administration’s lack of investment in key services and neglect of school funding has left a lasting and damaging legacy on the support schools and other services can provide for children and young people with SEND, and their families.
School leaders are facing a perfect storm of chronically underfunded high-needs budgets, inadequate local authority support - as they struggle with their own high-needs deficits - and a neglected system of wider external SEND services, all whilst the numbers of pupils requiring SEN support continues to increase.
NAHT is campaigning for a significant shift from the previous government’s resource-limited SEND policy approach to a genuine, needs-led, fully resourced, inclusive education system.
There is an urgent need for increased and protected new funding for children with special needs which should be for more than a single financial year, to maximise meaningful support in the longer term.
What we want to see
NAHT is campaigning for:
- sufficiency in core school budgets to meet the needs of the majority pupils
- a high-needs funding strategy that ensures long-term sufficiency to properly meet pupils’ additional needs
- cancellation of Local Authority high-needs deficits to stop the debt from consuming funding set aside for children and young people with SEND
- greater consistency in the levels and distribution of high-needs funding nationally to fully meet SEND provision costs
- long-term investment in specialist external support services to build capacity and improve speed of access for pupils with SEND
- an EHCP system that focuses only on those pupils that require a specialist plan, and ensures schools do not have to cover the insufficiencies in health and social care capacity.
NAHT is also pressing for wider reform to ensure that education benefits all children and young people. This includes:
- a reformed model of SEN funding for mainstream schools, special schools and alternative provision that provides certainty for a minimum of three years
- a fundamental review of place-planning, sufficiency of specialist places and admissions to ensure that pupils with SEND are able to attend the school that best meets their long-term needs
- an improved accountability system that properly recognises and acknowledges the progress that all pupils make, including those with SEND.
Get involved
You can help to make a difference in your local area by making your voice heard within your local authority and with your local MP.
Below, we have provided resources to help you get involved in the campaign. Get together with other members from your branch or region to take action.