The government must define what it means by “inclusive education” and how it will be achieved, MPs have said in a report on the system for pupils with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).
The public accounts committee warned that despite having a target to make mainstream schools more inclusive since 2014, governments have made “little discernible progress”.
Labour has since taking power last July re-emphasised the need to educate more pupils in mainstream schools. But MPs have demanded a “clear, costed plan” after warning councils face bankruptcy and an “unviable” system.
Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown, the Conservative MP who chairs the committee, descibed 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. And yet our inquiry found no sense of urgency amongst officials to do so.”
He said the “immensity of this situation cannot be overstated”.
“As a nation, we are failing countless children. We have been doing so for years. At the same time, we are creating an existential financial risk for some local authorities, caused by that same failing system.”
Here are the full recommendations.
1. Define ‘inclusive education’ (and say how you’ll achieve it)
The report warned the DfE had “not made clear what it means by inclusive education, a core strand of its approach, or how it will be achieved”.
“Little discernible progress” has been made towards a 2014 aim to support more children through inclusive mainstream schools.
Government has not “defined or set out what inclusive education should look like, or provided specific funding for inclusivity, despite this being at the heart of its approach”, and there are “few incentives” for schools to be inclusive.
Within six months, the DfE should set out the provision children with SEND support “should expect”, as well as what inclusive education “means and looks like”.
It should also set out the level of resourcing needed both to “ensure the support for children with SEND and the maintenance of educational provision for other children in the same setting”.
Finally, the DfE should set out “how inclusive education will be achieved through earlier identification of SEND, and improved teacher training and continuous development, and how schools will be held to account”. SEND performance data should incorporate factors other than academic attainment.
2. ‘Urgently’ set out plans for council deficits
During the committee’s inquiry, DfE witnesses were not able to provide “any potential solution to the critical and immediate financial challenges facing many local authorities due to persistent and significant SEND-related overspends”.
The impact of this is being deferred under a statutory override, which keeps SEND deficits off councils’ wider books and prevents them from effectively going bankrupt. The overrise is due to expire next March, with half of councils at risk.
The committee warned of a “real risk of unfairness in the treatment of local authorities given some have accrued SEND-related deficits and others have avoided doing so. Left unresolved the issue risks undermining the whole of local government finance”.
Government must therefore “urgently involve local authorities in conversations to develop a fair and appropriate solution for when the statutory override ends in March 2026”.
These plans should be set out “no later than March 2025”.
3. ‘Differentiate’ between places in mainstream and special
In the longer term, the report warned the SEND system “remains unviable with piecemeal interventions, such as safety valve, doing nothing to provide a financially sustainable system”.
Moving on from safety valve, the DfE must provide “specific support and guidance so all local authorities can effectively manage their SEND-related spending sustainably in the longer-term”.
Forecasting is “vital” to ensure investment allocation decisions maximise value for money. The joint work with councils should therefore include “differentiating between the number of places to be provided in mainstream and specialist state settings”.
The work should also ensure that “any spending on independent schools and transport costs reflects value for money”.
4. Improve data and provide ‘fully costed plan’
The department’s ability to reform the system is also hindered by a “lack of data, targets and a clear, costed plan”.
Government has a “long way to go to build data across a range of areas, such as on SEND mainstream schools places, home to school transport and whole system costs”.
It continues to test dashboards across 32 local authorities, “but it is unclear how these data will be used and when”.
The DfE should “urgently improve its data”, then use it to develop a new fully-costed plan for improving SEND with “concrete actions, and clear interdependencies, alongside metrics to measure outcomes”.
5. Understand reasons for increasing demand…
The committee warned that “without fully understanding why demand for support has increased, the Department’s ability to provide value for money is undermined”.
For example, the department has “not yet explained how it will evaluate the cost-effectiveness of special schools but has started to compare outcomes for children with similar needs in state special and mainstream schools”.
Within six months, the DfE must work with the health department to “better understand the reasons for increasing and changed demand for SEND support”.
It must then set out how it will provide support “more efficiently, such as through group support, identifying needs earlier and ensuring special schools reflect value for money”.
6. …and disparities between areas and schools
The report found the SEND system was “inconsistent, inequitable and not delivering in line with expectations, which inevitably undermines parents’ confidence in it”.
Over the next 12 months, the DfE should work with councils, the Ministry of Justice and others to “better understand the reasons for differences in identifying and supporting SEND needs across local areas and schools”.
They should also “routinely identify and share good practice from better performing area, and “improve local authority decision-making by analysing tribunal decisions”.
7. Reveal plan to reduce waiting lists
Accessing health expertise “presents a significant barrier to identifying and supporting SEND needs”, the report went on to warn.
Despite “increasing need”, the Department of Health and Social Care lacks data to “understand current long waiting times for health support”, with children waiting years to access support.
Within six months, the DHSC should set out how integrated care boards will consider SEND “alongside wider priorities”, and how its longer-term workforce plans will address “current and forecast SEND skill shortfalls”.
It must also set out its “processes, plans and targets for reducing related waiting lists”.
