Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has made an estimate of the number of SEN pupils in Bedfordshire that are expected to leave the Independent school sector in 2024-25.

The department has made no estimate of the number of pupils specifically in Bedfordshire with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) who will leave the independent school system in the 2024/25 academic year.

As set out in HM Treasury’s tax information and impact note on applying VAT to independent school fees, published on GOV.UK, the government estimates that approximately 3,000 pupils will move from independent schools in the UK to state schools in the 2024/25 academic year.

There is no separate assessment by local authority. The impact on individual local authorities will interact with other pressures and vary.

HM Treasury’s impact note considers SEND, but does not provide a separate assessment broken down by SEND. It is important to note that pupils who need a local authority-funded place in an independent school will not be impacted by the changes. To protect pupils with special educational needs (SEN) that can only be met in an independent school, local authorities and devolved governments that fund these places will be compensated for the VAT they are charged on those pupils’ fees.

Most pupils who have SEN are educated in mainstream schools (whether state-maintained or independent) where their needs are met. The overwhelming majority attend state schools. The department supports local authorities to provide suitable school places for children and young people with SEND through annual high needs capital funding. This can be used to deliver new places in mainstream and special schools, as well as other specialist settings. At Autumn Budget 2024, the government announced a £2.3 billion increase to the core schools' budget in 2025/26, increasing per pupil funding in real terms. This included an almost £1 billion uplift to high needs funding in 2025/26, providing additional support for the more than one million children in the state sector with SEND.