Provision for children with special educational needs and disabilities is at breaking point: our children deserve better.

After fourteen years of chronic government cuts, provision for students with special educational needs and disabilities is completely inadequate.

This crisis is felt in both special and mainstream schools. Special schools have £419 million less funding in real terms than in 2010, and the lack of adequate provision has meant some children can’t access schools at all.

Meanwhile, in mainstream schools, an acute shortage of teaching assistants, educational psychologists and mental health support has meant teachers are trying to fulfil all these roles at once.

As one teacher has explained:

“We as teachers pick up the pieces. I now class myself as a therapist, counsellor, medical assistant, speech and language therapist, physiotherapist and social worker. My mental and cognitive load is overwhelming.”

The support available for children with SEND has got to such a desperate state that the majority of teachers do not feel confident that a referral for SEND assessment, diagnosis or specialist support will allow a student to get the help they need.

Not only is this hugely impacting children with SEND, it’s also having impacts across school budgets, as teachers desperately try to find funding.

Government cuts to school funding mean that £4.6 billion is now needed for Special Educational Needs and Disabilities funding. We need to make sure that whoever is in government commits the funding our children deserve.

In order to cement this urgently-needed funding, we need everyone to know about the crisis in SEND.

Share our SEND leaflet with friends, family and colleagues to raise awareness of the crisis in SEND provision.

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