Jabed Ahmed

3 ways government could reform SEND funding, according to IFS With SEND spending set to be absorbed by central government, the Institute for Fiscal Studies sets out where the money could come from

Great breakdown of the SEND funding row - where we are and what experts suggest might happen next from @jabedahmed.bsky.social www.tes.com/magazine/new...

Budget 2025: what schools need to know Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ Budget sparks warnings about a real-terms drop in school funding but includes spending on school libraries and books. Here are all the key details for the sector

What does the budget mean for schools?

Reeves announced £5m for secondary school books & scrapped the two-child benefit cap.

But the most interesting development is that SEND provision costs will move into central government spending from 28-29.

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NAHT says school finances remain in a "perilous state".

Paul Whiteman, gen sec of NAHT adds: “If this government really wants to make its mark on education, it must use some of the income raised in today’s Budget to ensure all schools have the resources they need."

The NEU is not impressed by the chancellor's budget.

Daniel Kebede, general secretary of the NEU, says "Education is running on empty... Today's Budget has done nothing to improve this".

However, the NEU welcomed the government's decision to scrap the two-child benefit cap.

In an open letter to Sir Keir Starmer in September, the NEU teaching union, the NAHT school leaders’ union, the Association of School and College Leaders, the NASUWT teaching union, Unison and the National Governance Association said it is “critical” to reverse the policy.

Reeves confirms the government will scrap the two-child benefit cap.

This is a limit that restricts the child tax credit and universal credit to the first two children in most households.

This will be at an estimated cost of £3 billion by 2029-30, according to the OBR.

The chancellor announces £18m to improve and upgrade playgrounds across England.

She says the Tories left "classrooms crumbling".

Reeves pledged in October to provide a library in every primary school in England by 2029. The government committed £10 million to this programme to create libraries in the 1,700 primaries across the country that are currently without one.

Reeves confirms that every secondary school in England will receive £1,400 to purchase new library books

The overall £5million investment is aimed at getting children to read more for pleasure, under the government’s aim to make 2026 the “National Year of Reading”.

The delayed SEND white paper is expected early next year. The government said it will set out SEND funding.

The OBR says “significant reform” is required to bring demand and spending under control.

The government “has not set out how it intends to fund this” within the DfE’s existing budget, the OBR says.

Without additional money, absorbing SEND costs could mean hard choices elsewhere in the system, it warned.

From 2028, when the override ends, historic deficits would land on council balance sheets, likely triggering a wave of Section 114 notices, according to the OBR/

To avoid this, the government will take SEND spending into central government instead.

Up to now, councils have been legally allowed to ignore these deficits on their books due to the “statutory override”.

But the OBR says this only “masks” the crisis: councils still have to pay the bills, leading to higher borrowing and depleted reserves.

Why will SEND costs be absorbed into the DfE's budget?

Councils’ SEND deficits have spiralled out of control, rising from £0.2bn to £2.5bn since 2020 and forecast to hit £4.9bn by 2027-28.

The cumulative total is expected to reach £14bn by the time the override ends in 2028

The OBR says SEND pressures are growing far faster than school funding, and will become a major new burden on the DfE’s day-to-day budget (RDEL).

It warns that absorbing this cost “within existing limits” risks squeezing other education spending.

The move will add £6.3bn to departmental spending in the first year alone, rising towards £9bn by 2030-31, according to the OBR.

THREAD: SEND costs to hit central government budgets

The cost of SEND support will shift entirely onto central government from 2028, and the OBR warns the DfE has no plan for how to pay for it, according to the OBR's Economic and fiscal outlook, published in error.

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