South Dorset MP backs calls for greater SEND funding
Richard Drax wants to see better support for those with special educational needs
Last updated 23rd Feb 2024
South Dorset's MP is getting behind calls for increases in Government funding to support people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).
Richard Drax is a member of the f40 group, which campaigns for fairer education funding, and says Dorset is 'one of the worst-funded local education authorities in England'.
He also says SEND funding is 'still lagging behind' the support for mainstream education.
Mr Drax has added his name to a letter sent to the Chancellor by Sir David Davis MP.
That's asking for an extra £4.6 billion in annual funding, as part of the next Budget.
South Dorset's MP said:
"This is the minimum necessary to stop spiralling costs, where the cumulative deficit in local authority high needs budgets is expected to reach £3.6 billion by March 2025.”
The letter to the Chancellor says:
"Whilst we recognise that High Needs Funding has increased substantially since 2019, there is ample evidence that what is currently being provided is failing to meet the level of need. This has been compounded by parallel challenges in children’s social care and school transport budgets which increase the pressure on councils and children and families with SEND.
"The level of need has increased dramatically in recent years. The total number of Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCPs) and statements of special educational need has more than doubled since 2015. But Government support has not kept pace.
"Successive spending settlements have provided funding for teachers’ pay increases but not for teaching assistants and non-teaching staff – both are roles that play a vital part in supporting inclusion for children with SEND. This is leading to unsustainable pressure on staffing budgets.
"In addition, the funding allocations for SEND provision are unfairly skewed, and do not reflect the relative needs of each area. A reassessment of these allocations is long overdue and, as the f40 group has long argued, a fair funding system should be about meeting the needs of pupils according to their characteristics, not where they happen to be in the country."