The crisis in special educational needs and disabilities (Send) in England risks creating a “lost generation” of children, while putting “almost half” of all councils with an education remit in danger of bankruptcy within 15 months, parliament’s spending watchdog has warned.
MPs on the public accounts committee (PAC) expressed frustration with the government’s lack of progress in resolving the crisis, and complained their inquiry had found “no sense of urgency” among officials.
As well as failing to deliver better outcomes for children, the Department for Education was criticised by the PAC for “being unable to provide” any potential solution to the “existential threat” to the financial status of many local authorities.
A damning report, published on Wednesday, found too many families struggling to access Send support in a system that “inherently favours” parents and carers who are better able to navigate an often “chaotic and adversarial process”.
Families are at the mercy of a postcode lottery, the PAC has said, with wide variation in waiting times for education, health and care (EHC) plans – the legally binding documents that detail the additional support a child with usually quite severe special needs requires.
In Lambeth, south London, 71.5% of plans were written within the statutory 20-week time limit, while in the neighbouring Southwark only 19.2% were completed on time.
Meanwhile, soaring demand for Send support – there has been a 140% increase in children with EHC plans since 2015 – means councils have been forced to overspend their high needs budgets, often relying on independent schools to provide specialist places.
Those with the biggest deficits have been able to exclude them from their main revenue budgets using a “statutory override”. When this expires in March 2026, the PAC says 66 local authorities (43% of councils that cover education) are at risk of breaching their duty to set a balanced budget, and so would be effectively bankrupt, with an estimated £4.6bn cumulative deficit.
Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown, the Conservative chair of the PAC, said: “This is an emergency that has been allowed to run and run. It is long past time the government took action matching the gravity of this situation.”
“As a nation, we are failing countless children. Every day that goes by for families not receiving the right support is another day closer to a lost generation of young people.”
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Arooj Shah, chair of the Local Government Association’s children and young people board, said: “It is vital the government urgently sets out a comprehensive reform plan that ensures children and their families get the support they need and deserve. This must include ensuring councils on a financially stable footing, with high needs deficits written off.”
Pepe Di’lasio, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said: “This isn’t a problem of the current government’s making but it has inherited this shambolic situation and now bears the responsibility of acting with the sense of urgency that has proved so elusive in the past.”
Bridget Phillipson, the education secretary, announced in December that mainstream schools will get an additional £740m to create more specialist places for children with Send. “The current picture is stark,” she said then. “We are determined to break down barriers to opportunity for all children and will work closely with local authorities, schools and families to ensure inclusion is at the heart of learning.”