Overview
- Funding runs to 2029/30 with first allocations due in spring for 2026/27, allowing councils to expand specialist facilities and adapt mainstream schools with spaces for pupils who need extra support.
- Officials say 28 of 44 planned mainstream free schools are likely to be scrapped, saving about £600 million, with Eton and Star Academies’ sixth forms proceeding in Dudley and Oldham but not in Middlesbrough.
- Around 10,000 previously announced places in special free schools will still go ahead, with 15 special and alternative provision projects continuing and other planned places protected through extra council funding.
- Demand pressures remain high, with more than 1.7 million pupils identified with SEND in 2024/25, a 166% rise in EHCPs since 2015, and councils overspending by £415 million on transport in 2023/24, according to the NAO.
- Charities and parents report failures in early support, with The Times finding at least 20 councils underspent or diverted early-years SEND funds as ministers also point to a £740 million pledge to expand specialist places and add SEND leads to Best Start Family Hubs.