Today, 20th February, the Department for Education has given a preview of an element of the Schools White Paper/SEND Consultation by announcing plans to move EHCP funding from individual to band-based as part of future SEND Reforms.
Here is NASS's full response to the announcement and its shameful attack on special schools and the failure to acknowledge the vital and indispensable role they play in the education system:
To treat all special school provision as if it is the same is an attack on specialism and an attack on the children whose lives are transformed by it. Suggesting an upper figure for a price cap in the absence of any meaningful data about the real costs, price and value of specialist provision is a reckless act of politicking. We call on the Government to engage with special schools in any plans to introduce banded funding to avoid a catastrophic loss of specialist provision.
Any proposals to cap funding for specialist placements or introduce new categories of provision must start from one simple principle: support for children and young people with SEND must be based on their individual needs. We are concerned that the direction of travel signals a finance-driven shift away from that core duty. Needs-led decision-making cannot be replaced by arbitrary funding caps or broad categories that fail to reflect the complexity of children’s lives and the complexity of services needed to support them.
Debates that focus solely on cost ignore the true value of specialist provision and rarely make valid like-for-like comparisons of provision. Independent special schools support children who require the most complex, multi-disciplinary support. This may include residential provision and is generally in environments with significantly higher staffing ratios. Comparing headline fees without recognising this complexity is misleading.
Robust data and evidence must inform policy - it should not follow it. The Government is announcing this policy from a data void. There is currently no formal data or analysis of costs, price and value to back up its claims. We understand that the Department for Education is only now launching a market analysis to understand the cost of specialist provision and we welcome the invitation for NASS to inform this work.
It is shameful that this announcement attacks special schools and fails to acknowledge the vital and indispensable role they play in the education system. They deliver essential, high-quality support for children whose needs require a complex service response.
Using GCSE results as a benchmark for success for children with SEND is fundamentally flawed. It shows a severe lack of understanding of the multiple failures many children experience before they are placed in independent special schools. Our member schools can evidence how children they have educated pursue qualifications and life skills programmes tailored to their abilities, enabling them to thrive beyond academic milestones.
Independent special schools currently fill gaps where local capacity simply does not exist. Scapegoating these schools as driving costs does a disservice to special schools and the crucial role they have played in shoring up a dysfunctional SEND system. In 2024, the National Audit Office indicated that whilst the overall spend on independent special schools is increasing, this is due to the number of placements being made by local authorities, not the cost paid per pupil. School fees are not ‘spiralling’.
There is no doubt that this announcement will cause anxiety for schools and the children and families they support. The Government’s lack of understanding of specialist provision risks destabilising this vital support long before any valid alternative is available.