Britain’s education system is facing a storm of uncertainty and mounting financial pressure, as government plans to overhaul funding for children with special educational needs and disabilities (Send) trigger warnings from local authorities, teaching unions, and parents alike. The latest Budget announcements, made by Chancellor Rachel Reeves on November 27, 2025, have set off a wave of concern about whether the government’s new approach will shore up or further destabilize already stretched school budgets across England and Wales.
At the heart of the controversy is the government’s proposal to absorb the entire cost of Send provision within departmental budgets by 2028-29—a move that will remove these expenses from local authorities and place them squarely on the books of central government. According to the BBC, this change is forecasted to cost an additional £6 billion, a figure that has left many wondering where the money will come from and what it might mean for mainstream school funding.
Until now, local authorities have received a dedicated schools grant from the Department for Education (DfE) to fund Send support. However, the relentless rise in demand for services—driven in part by an 80% increase in pupils entitled to council-funded care since 2019, especially those diagnosed with autism and ADHD—has forced councils to spend billions more than they receive. The number of young people with council-funded education, health, and care plans (EHCPs) has doubled across England since 2016, according to the BBC. This surge has left councils with ballooning deficits, kept off their official books only by a “statutory override” introduced in 2020 and now extended to 2027-28.
The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) has sounded the alarm, forecasting that by the time the override expires, councils will have amassed a cumulative deficit of £14 billion. The OBR warns that, unless new savings are found, the government’s plan to take on Send costs could result in a 4.9% fall in mainstream school spending per pupil—about £400 less per child each year—instead of the 0.5% increase the government had previously planned. “The Government has not set out how this would be addressed and so it represents a significant fiscal risk,” the OBR noted, as reported by the Daily Mail.
The DfE, however, has pushed back against these projections, with a spokesperson insisting, “This claim is incorrect – we are clear that any deficit will be absorbed within the overall Government budget. These projections also do not account for the much-needed Send reforms this Government will bring forward.” The department maintains that upcoming reforms, due to be detailed in early 2026, will deliver both financial sustainability and earlier support for children with Send.
Despite these reassurances, teaching unions and local officials remain deeply skeptical. Daniel Kebede, general secretary of the National Education Union (NEU), declared, “The National Education Union will not accept the continued underfunding of our schools. We will not accept another pay cut. Our national executive will meet this Saturday to decide next steps. We must convince this Government to change course – even if that means balloting for strike action. We must – and we will – save our schools.” The NEU’s executive meeting, scheduled for November 29, 2025, could pave the way for industrial action if funding concerns aren’t addressed.
Pepe Di'Iasio, general secretary of the headteachers' union ASCL, echoed the alarm: “Several local authorities are seemingly at risk of financial collapse as a result of deficits relating to SEND spending. Were this risk to be transferred onto schools, in the form of budget cuts to cover the cost of SEND provision being absorbed into departmental spending, it would be catastrophic.”
Shadow Education Secretary Laura Trott charged that the government’s approach would “push already struggling schools further into the red,” while Liberal Democrat education spokesperson Munira Wilson called the £6 billion funding gap “a damning indictment of this Government’s failure to get a grip on the system” and warned ministers “must not solve this crisis by raiding the budgets of mainstream schools.”
Concerns are not limited to the national level. In Wrexham, headteachers painted a bleak picture of the local impact of funding shortfalls. Addressing the Wrexham County Borough Council’s Lifelong Learning Scrutiny Committee on November 26, 2025, Chris Wilkinson, headteacher of St Joseph’s, described “ten years of managing decline” due to insufficient funding. “The only way to balance a budget, because of the immense amount of the school budget that is taken up purely by staffing costs, is therefore to remove staff,” Wilkinson explained. “Where that is via redundancy procedures, inevitably school balances get worse not better in the first instance.”
Wrexham faces a projected deficit of £2.988 million across its 69 schools, with 31 expected to go into a licensed deficit this year—almost double the previous year. The redundancy crisis is so acute that schools have relied on a £200,000 annual pot for redundancy payments, which was exceeded last year and topped up by the council. But this year, many schools learned they would receive only 20% of promised redundancy support, forcing some to make further staff cuts simply to fund previous layoffs. “This issue is systemic,” said Cllr Anthony Wedlake, a governor at Ysgol Penygelli. “These are issues being compounded on top of issues. At the moment we do not have a satisfactory solution to that.”
Parents and advocacy groups are similarly anxious. Aimee Bradley, who has three autistic children and runs the parent campaign group Send Sanctuary UK, told the BBC, “If they're planning major changes to the Send system, then money needs to be put into it—but as of yesterday's Budget, all we have is extremely vague detail. People need answers, and parents, myself included, are left worried.” Anna Bird, chair of the Disabled Children’s Partnership, added there was a “lack of clarity” about how Send costs will be met and expressed concern that the government is “unrealistic about the amount of time it will take to turn round the Send system.”
Policy experts stress that the government faces three main options: slow the growth in Send spending through reforms (which will take time to materialize), top up the overall schools budget, or reduce mainstream school funding to pay for high-needs provision. As Luke Sibieta of the Institute for Fiscal Studies told the BBC, each path involves tough trade-offs, and none offers a quick fix.
Meanwhile, the National Audit Office has described the wider Send system as “broken” in a report last year, noting that it is “not delivering positive outcomes for children and young people” despite massive increases in funding. With the government’s white paper on Send reforms delayed until the new year for further consultation, the education sector is left in limbo—uncertain whether relief or further turmoil lies ahead.
As the debate intensifies, families, educators, and local officials await concrete answers. For now, the only certainty is that Britain’s schools are bracing for a turbulent period, with the stakes no less than the futures of thousands of vulnerable children and the financial health of the nation’s education system.
