Sense, the national deafblind charity, has warned of the urgent need for investment in SEND education, following a damning report by The Key which highlighted that mainstream schools in England are struggling to support the 1 million pupils with special needs or disabilities (SEND).
The study, which surveyed 1,100 school leaders, revealed that 82% of schools do not have sufficient funding to provide adequate support to children with SEND. The Key raised concerns that delays to assessments, insufficient budgets and cuts to local authority funding are negatively impacting the ability to mainstream schools to cope.
Sense is calling for the system of special educational needs and disabilities to be properly resourced so that the needs of all children can be accommodated within schools.
Kate Fitch, Head of Public Policy at Sense said:
“The government’s SEND reforms sought to provide a more integrated system of health, education and social care for children with SEND. We are concerned to hear that an insufficient level of funding in the system is having a detrimental impact on schools abilities to provide appropriate support to children with additional needs.
It is vital that the government heed the warnings in this report and provide sufficient investment to ensure the SEND reforms are successful, and to ensure that children with additional needs receive support which is vital to their education and development.”
