Schools' 'crisis' warning over special educational needs funding as demand for support doubles in parts of Yorkshire

Paul Whiteman, general secretary, said: “This is a full-blown crisis and bad news for children, families, schools and local authorities. Ahead of the general election, it is incumbent upon all political parties to pledge the system-wide investment needed to tackle this crisis head on.”

The findings, published on the second day of NAHT’s conference in Wales, are based on a survey of more than 1,000 headteachers' union members in England.

Mr Whiteman said school leaders are being left in an "impossible" position, with a "perfect storm of growing demand" to support more pupils with Send even as costs grow.

There were protests and rallies in parts of Yorkshire last month as parents called for radical reform, with Labour councillors in Leeds speaking out over "years of underfunding".

Tory MP for Harrogate, Andrew Jones, also spoke in Commons on the issue, after warnings from council officers that this was the greatest financial challenge they faced.

Education and Health Care plans (EHCs), as a legal document setting out support for children in schools, can be a good indicator of how local education authorities (LEAs) are coping. But the picture painted by official statistics for Yorkshire is a worrying one with demand doubling in just a few years as funding for support is stretched even further.

In Bradford, for example, requests for EHPs almost trebled between 2016 and 2022, as more and more children and young people were identified as being in need of support.

But then, when it came to LEAs meeting their legal duties over timescales to carry out these assessments, the figures paint a harrowing picture for both schools and families. In Leeds, just one in eight children (12 per cent) saw their support looked at within 20 weeks. The numbers for North Yorkshire and Hull, meanwhile, struggled at under a third.

School leaders told the union they are struggling to "fill the gap" left by under-resourced services, including health and social care services. Mr Whiteman added: “The blame lies squarely with the Government, which has failed to provide anything like enough funding to enable schools, local authorities and wider services to meet this demand."

A DfE spokesman said funding has risen 60 per cent in five years, to top £10.5bn next year: “We are also providing £2.6 billion to support the creation of places for children and young people with Send, more than tripling the previous level of investment, so parents can be reassured that their child will receive the right support at the right time, close to home.”