More special educational needs places needed after “dramatic” increase in demand

At a recent Portsmouth City Council meeting, Councillor Mary Vallely raised urgent concerns about the increasing demand for special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) provision in the city’s schools. Her notice of motion highlighted the mounting challenges faced by local schools and the impact of funding cuts on SEND services.

“Portsmouth schools are struggling with an increase in the need for special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) provision,” Cllr Vallely said. “More children are being failed due to increasing diagnosis and acceptance of conditions, but schools cannot keep up with this increase and funding is hard to allocate due to years of Local Authority cuts from central government.”

Cllr Vallely commended the efforts of council officers in improving SEND provision but pointed out inconsistencies across Portsmouth’s schools. She also criticised the reduction in local authority oversight due to the academy system and associated budget cuts.

Cllr Suzy Horton introduced an amendment to strengthen the motion, emphasising its “spirit” while calling for urgent government action to address the crisis.

“It draws attention to the extent and challenges that children, parents, and the council officers are facing with regards to supporting additional needs and a plea to the new government to deal with the crisis.”

Despite the challenges, Cllr Horton noted Portsmouth’s positive reputation for inclusion and SEND provision.

“Ofsted reported us positively in July 2019, and then we were asked by Ofsted to pilot the new inspection in 2022,” she said. “Like the rest of the country, we’re seeing a dramatic increase in children with additional needs – increases of 51 per cent over the whole country since 2017.”

Cllr Horton underscored the importance of preserving early help and prevention work, family hubs, SEND support in nurseries and early years settings, family safeguarding services, relational practice, and mental health support teams.

The Local Government Association (LGA) reports a record high number of young people with SEND needing council support, with nearly 576,000 having an education, health and care plan (EHCP) as of January 2024. Assessment requests rose by 20 per cent in the past year, driving a 23 per cent increase in home-to-school transport costs for 2023-24, reaching £1.4 billion—a 137 per cent rise since 2016-17.

In Portsmouth, EHCP numbers grew by 51 per cent since 2017 to 2,145, causing a £2.5 million budget pressure on the High Needs Block from the Designated School Grant.

Cllr Horton’s amendments were welcomed and subsumed by Cllr Vallely and the wider Labour group. It requests an annual update paper on SEND to be taken to cabinet decision meetings and for Cllr Horton to write to the government, asking it to “investigate the adequacy of SEND provision nationally and to make the review, provision and funding of SEND a ‘first order issue’ for the new government”.