Half of state-funded schools in England for children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) are oversubscribed, BBC research has found. Schools have had to convert portable cabins and even cupboards into teaching spaces due to a lack of room, putting pressure on staff and making pupils anxious. Parents have said the wait for places means their children are missing out on education.
The Department for Education (DfE) has said it is spending £2.6bn on new places. One such school is Maltby Hilltop in Rotherham, which caters for pupils aged two to 19 with severe learning difficulties and complex needs. Due to overcrowding, three pupils have been unable to attend classes, including 14-year-old Cohen, who is autistic and has a condition known as pathological demand avoidance (PDA). His mother Sarah says the school simply did not have enough physical space to provide a calm environment for her son.
BBC News compared pupil headcount data to the number of commissioned places at 1,012 state-funded SEND schools in England for the 2021-22 academic year. It found that 52% of SEND schools had more children in classes than their number of commissioned places. The number of pupils with Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCPs) has risen by 50% since 2016, to 355,500 last year.
Maltby Hilltop was built in the 1970s and its concrete slab, modular structure makes it difficult to build upwards. Its position on the side of a hill also makes building work prohibitively expensive. Head teacher Rob Mulvey says the school is at capacity and there are “desperate families” who need a place but cannot be offered one. Money for specialist schools comes from high needs funding given to councils, but if a school takes on more pupils above their commissioned places, it won’t necessarily receive the full high-needs funding for each additional child.
Despite an extra £400m in high-needs funding announced in the Autumn Statement, the Local Government Association (LGA) says councils are facing “significant financial challenges” and need long-term certainty over funding to support children with SEND. Councillor Louise Gittins, chairwoman of the LGA’s children and young people board, has called for the government to urgently publish its long-awaited proposals “for a reformed system which better meets the needs of children with SEND”.
In response to the BBC’s findings, the DfE said it was providing £2.6bn in capital funding up to 2025 to help deliver new places at SEND schools. It added that it had increased high needs funding by 50% since 2019, to over £10bn by next year. Head teacher Mr Mulvey says specialist schools need more investment from both the government and local authorities. He said: “We don’t need sticking plasters. We need a long-term solution to increasing the places and availability for children with additional needs.”
BBC research has revealed that half of state-funded schools in England for children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) are oversubscribed. Schools have had to convert portable cabins and cupboards into teaching spaces due to a lack of room, putting pressure on staff and making pupils anxious. Parents have said the wait for places means their children are missing out on education.
The Department for Education (DfE) has said it is spending £2.6bn on new places but this is not enough to meet the increasing demand. BBC News compared pupil headcount data to the number of commissioned places at 1,012 state-funded SEND schools in England for the 2021-22 academic year and found that 52% of SEND schools had more children in classes than their number of commissioned places. The number of pupils with Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCPs) has risen by 50% since 2016, to 355,500 last year.
Maltby Hilltop School in Rotherham is one such school which has been affected by overcrowding. Head teacher Rob Mulvey says the school is at capacity and there are “desperate families” who need a place but cannot be offered one. Money for specialist schools comes from high needs funding given to councils but if a school takes on more pupils above their commissioned places, it won’t necessarily receive the full high-needs funding for each additional child.
The Local Government Association (LGA) has said councils are facing “significant financial challenges” and need long-term certainty over funding to support children with SEND. Councillor Louise Gittins, chairwoman of the LGA’s children and young people board, has called for the government to urgently publish its long-awaited proposals “for a reformed system which better meets the needs of children with SEND”.
In response to the BBC’s findings, the DfE said it was providing £2.6bn in capital funding up to 2025 to help deliver new places at SEND schools. It added that it had increased high needs funding by 50% since 2019, to over £10bn by next year. Head teacher Mr Mulvey says specialist schools need more investment from both the government and local authorities in order to increase places and availability for children with additional needs.