Labour's holiday homework: solve the problem of special needs education

We spend lavishly on a failing system - but reforming it will be a bruising political battle

- Sam Freedman

‘Outcomes for children with special educational needs are not notably improving despite additional spending.’ Gary Burchell

For decades the cost of supporting children with special educational needs in England was static. But from 2015 it has risen inexorably by 60% in real terms - forcing local authorities to take on vast debts and causing chaos for parents and schools. Successive governments have had to allow authorities to park these debts off their books. If they hadn't, half of them might now be bankrupt.

The last government refused to tackle the problem, leaving this one to clean up the mess. In the budget, Labour pledged to cover the full cost of special needs from 2028-29, to take the pressure off councils. But if numbers continue to grow at the same rate as they have over the past decade that will mean finding another £6bn from cuts elsewhere or new taxes. The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) estimates that the move would require a reduction of almost 5% in mainstream school budgets if entirely funded by the Department for Education. There's no way that's going to happen.

So ministers are going to have to find a way to stop costs rising, and reform a broken system. The plan is to announce proposals in January, but these have already been delayed several times due to the complexity, and political sensitivity, of the issue.