Herald Express: A new approach for tackling the SEND crisis

In March, it was reported that the government is preparing major changes to special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) provision. For many trying to navigate our current broken system, these changes can’t come soon enough.  

Apparently, within a white paper, coming out this summer, the government will set out what it’s calling a “complete recalibration” of the SEND system.  

This is rumoured to include: changes to existing SEND legislation to ease council deficits; new measures to prioritise state school provision; and ways to cut council spending on costly private special needs schools.  

This reads as a step in the right direction. But that’s all it is: a step. A more radical approach is needed, and fast.  

Addressing the shocking mismatch between council budgets and the scale of spending needs for SEND is one of the biggest and most complex challenges facing the government.  

Nearly twenty councils have warned they are at risk of insolvency due to SEND costs. And, by March 2026, it’s estimated that councils will have collectively accumulated at least a £5.2bn deficit due to overspending.  

Devon’s Conservative-run County Council needed a £95m bailout from the government. The Council repeatedly overspends its allocation despite, simultaneously, failing to cope with demand – just 4.9% of Education, Health, and Care Plans are delivered here within the 20-week window.  

Tinkering around the edges won’t put council finances on a sustainable footing. Nor will it help the families caught in the middle and the children whose lives must be put on hold while they await a diagnosis and suitable support.  

If these councils were to go bankrupt, a large swathe of services would be at risk, so clearly this is to be avoided at all costs. But one popular option I’ve seen to avoid this – writing off all existing debt – would only work if SEND demand was set to rapidly decrease in the future, which nobody is expecting. If anything, it will continue to rise.  

Last month, I joined a study trip organised by the Education Select Committee to Ontario, Canda, to learn about their SEND provision, and I was struck by how such a different system delivered far superior results.  

In Canada, they believe in a system where schools and parents work hand in hand to get the best outcomes for all children – there’s very little of the battling we see here from parents trying to get support for their children.  

Listening is at the foundation of this system, and behaviour, fundamentally, is seen as a way of communicating, with teachers and teaching assistants taught how to recognise and interpret behaviour.  

The focus is on ability, not diagnosis; so, they start from the question, ‘what is this child capable of’ and work from there to develop their strengths. As a result, integration is heavily promoted, so children with SEND are included wherever possible in mainstream classes. 

Compare that with our system here: only 8% of families currently feel like their children’s needs are being met by the support offered by their educational setting, according to research from Contact and the Independent Parental Special Education Advice, with 21% of children with identified needs not receiving any support in school at all. 

If we were to adopt even a fraction of Canada’s approach, major changes would be needed. Conservative cuts to teaching assistants and support staff would have to be reversed. As would the previous government’s reforms that promoted exams and incentivised headteachers to prioritise academic standards and attainment over everything else.  

The introduction of inclusion as a measure in Ofsted inspections will partially help here. But, if the government is to truly recalibrate the system, more imaginative thinking is needed.  

The Liberal Democrats have called for the government to set up a dedicated national body for SEND, to end the postcode lottery of support and act as a champion for children with complex needs.