The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Education (Stephen Morgan)
Today I am announcing £740 million of capital investment in 2025-26 to support children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) or who require alternative provision (AP). This is alongside the previously announced additional high needs revenue funding, which will increase by almost £1 billion in 2025-26, compared with 2024-25.
This new funding can be used to adapt classrooms to be more accessible for children with SEND, to create specialist facilities within mainstream schools that can deliver more intensive support adapted to suit the pupils’ needs, and create special schools places for pupils with the most complex needs.
Today’s funding announcement is part of the broader £6.7 billion capital settlement for 2025-26 so that we can deliver this Government’s mission to break down barriers to opportunity and give every child the best start in life. Ensuring schools have the high-quality and sustainable buildings they need is a key part of that.
Allocations of this funding to local authorities are expected to be published by the end of March.
We have also confirmed that we will not enter into any more safety valve agreements for councils in financial deficits, pending wider reform of the whole system to prioritise early intervention, properly supporting councils to bring their finances under control. Over time, over 30 local authorities have been supported to manage their high needs budgets through the safety valve programme. We will continue to work with LAs with safety valve agreements to deliver their plans.
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