Question to the Department for Education:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the report from the Institute for Fiscal Studies Spending on special educational needs in England: something has to change, published on 10 December 2024, and in particular its findings on special educational needs debt within local authorities.

The department is providing an increase of £1 billion for high needs budgets in England in the 2025/26 financial year. Total high needs funding for children and young people with complex special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) is over £12 billion in the 2025/26 financial year.

The department is providing the increase in high needs funding to help meet the increase in costs local authorities will be facing this financial year, as they in turn provide support to schools and colleges, and ultimately to children and young people with SEND.

Nevertheless, the government recognises that the rising costs of SEND provision are putting a strain on local government finances, and in particular, the impact of dedicated schools grant deficits on councils’ finances. In the Spending Review on 11 June, we confirmed that the Core Schools Budget, which includes funding for local authorities’ high needs budgets, will rise to £69.5 billion by 2028/29. We intend to set out plans for reforming the SEND system in further detail later this year. Our objective is to ensure that local authorities, schools and colleges can deliver high quality services for children and young people with SEND in a financially sustainable way.