Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of trends in levels of teacher shortages on SEND provision in schools serving communities with higher levels of disadvantage.

This government’s ambition is that all children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) receive the right support to succeed in their education and as they move into adult life.

We are committed to improving inclusivity and expertise in mainstream schools, as well as ensuring special schools cater to children and young people with the most complex needs. We will strengthen accountability and inclusivity through Ofsted, support the mainstream workforce to increase their SEND expertise, and encourage schools to set up resourced provision or special educational needs units to increase capacity in mainstream schools.

The department’s mainstream schools funding formula, and the formula that allocates funding for children and young people with complex needs, both include disadvantage factors that provide higher levels of funding to help schools support their pupils with SEND. Overall school funding is £64.8 billion in the 2025/26 financial year, of which over £12 billion is being allocated for young people with complex needs, including those with SEND.

Supporting our expert teachers is critical to the government’s mission to break down barriers to opportunity and boost the life chances for every child, as the in-school factor that makes the biggest difference to a young person’s educational outcomes is high-quality teaching, particularly for those with SEND and who are from disadvantaged backgrounds.

The Teachers’ Standards set clear expectations that teachers must understand the needs of all pupils, including those with SEND. All trainees who achieve qualified teacher status must demonstrate that they can adapt teaching to respond to the needs of all pupils.

For 2024/25 and 2025/26, we have doubled the targeted retention incentive, now worth up to £6,000 after tax for mathematics, physics, chemistry and computing teachers in the first five years of their careers who choose to work in disadvantaged schools. This will support recruitment and retention of specialist teachers in these subjects and in the schools and areas that need them most.