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NATIONAL Association of Head Teachers (NAHT) speaks for School Leaders, working at every education phase, such as- Early Years and Primary to Secondary, and academies, as well as working within independent Schools, representing School business leaders and those with responsibility for children with special needs. Recently they published a report into support and funding for children with special educational needs. The report found that:- "just 1% of School Leaders believe that the funding they receive for pupils with special education needs and disabilities (SEND) is sufficient to meet children's needs, with a shocking 99% saying that it is insufficient."

The NAHT survey, published on:- 4 May 2024, at the Union's annual conference in Newport, said that the Union had also found the lack of funding is harming provision for children with additional needs.

In a statement to the media Paul Whiteman, NAHT's General Secretary, said:- "School Leaders are passionate about offering the best possible education and support to all pupils, but they are being left in an impossible position. Schools face a perfect storm of growing demand to support more pupils with special educational needs at the same time as costs have increased massively and are still rising. The blame lies squarely with the UK Government, which has failed to provide anything like enough funding to enable Schools, local authorities, and wider services to meet this demand. 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. Ian Kendal, executive headteacher at Our Lady of Fatima Catholic Multi Academy Trust in Essex, added: “The funding we receive for pupils with SEND is simply not enough, and it’s astonishing that the per pupil SEND funding has not increased for more than a decade. This puts huge pressure on our dwindling School budgets. There just isn't capacity within Special Schools in our area, meaning we are supporting even more pupils with complex needs within our mainstream settings. We believe in inclusion and are currently doing our best with the limited funds, but, put simply, it is not good enough for the children with the most complex needs; they deserve so much more than we can give them. It should never have come to this, and we need the Government to urgently put more funding into the system to ensure all children's needs are met, especially the most vulnerable."

Responding to NAHT's survey and statements, Cllr Louise Gittins, Chair of the Local Government Association's Children and Young People Board, said:- "Councils' high needs deficits currently stands at an estimated £1.9 billion, rising to £3.6 billion by 2025 with no intervention. We urge the Government to write off these deficits. Improving levels of mainstream inclusion will reduce the reliance on costly Special Schools and other settings. Councils should also be given additional powers to lead local SEND systems effectively, ensuring councils, education settings, and health partners are accountable to each other, not Whitehall."

Key notes:-

1,048 members in England responded to NAHT’s funding survey, which ran from:- 10 April to 23 April 2024
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Nearly 1.6m children were receiving SEND support in Schools in England in:- 2022 / 2023. This includes pupils with Education Health and Care Plans (EHCPs) and those pupils with SEND who do not have EHCPs
Where Schools are unable to provide all the support a child needs their parents have a right to ask for an assessment with a view to securing an EHCP. This is a legal personalised document outlining the education, health, and social care needs of children and young people aged:- 0 to 25 years old with special educational needs or disabilities, as well as the support they need, and the outcomes they would like to achieve. The Local Authority has a legal duty to fund the support deemed necessary in the plan. 25% of pupils receiving support with SEND in:- 2022 / 2023 had an EHCP in place.
60% of Local Authorities are currently subject to Government debt reduction programmes for high needs spending.

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