Dec 5, 2024, Special Needs Jungle: Will £740m [$943M] make mainstream truly accessible? Plus SEND safety valve deals halted—we call that a win!
£740 million [$943M] in new capital investment, “to pave the way for more pupils with SEND to achieve and thrive in mainstream schools”.
Confirmation that the government “will not enter any more of its 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.”
The government also announced the appointment of a chairperson, Professor Karen Guldberg, to head up a recently-announced “Neurodivergence Task and Finish Group” - a team of “experts that will work alongside the DfE to drive inclusive education.” I don’t know enough about neurodivergence to say anything sensible about this group, though I’m sure SNJ will be writing more about it in the coming months. However, I do know a bit about SEND funding.
Let’s start with the £740 million. This is capital funding, which means it’ll be spent on school buildings, equipment, and specialist facilities, rather than the human beings who educate our children and young people. There have been similar capital funding grants injected into the SEND system each year since 2018.
Funding for teaching staff, therapists and training comes out of a different pot – revenue funding – and you might remember that the government announced a £1 billion [$1.3B] increase to revenue funding in the budget a few weeks back.
A written statement to Parliament makes it clear that the £740 million will be doled out in the next financial year, which starts in April 2025. The same goes for the extra £1 billion [$1.3B] in revenue funding.
The written statement also makes it clear that government will hand the £740 million [$943M] over to local authorities to allocate. The guidance for how LAs will allocate the money isn’t out yet, and probably won’t be out for the next few months.
In keeping with its other recent statements on SEND, the government has made it pretty clear that they would like LAs to invest this £740m to boost specialist capacity in mainstream schools. But the language in the statement falls short of directing LAs to do that.
“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.”
Stephen Morgan MP, Education Minister
