Budget Cuts Force English Schools to Slash Special Needs Support

English state schools are scaling back support for pupils with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) as budgets tighten, according to a new poll. More than 40% of school leaders in England said their schools have reduced SEND support. The findings come from a survey of 1,105 state school teachers carried out by the National Foundation for Educational Research for the Sutton Trust.

The poll details where reductions are being felt most sharply. Among leaders reporting cuts, 71% said they had reduced teaching assistant provision over the past year, while 49% said they had cut other support staff. The pattern was not uniform across phases: cuts were reported more often in primary schools, where 45% of leaders said SEND support had been reduced, compared with 25% in secondary schools.

Respondents also signalled that the situation may deteriorate further. In the same poll, 81% of leaders said they expect additional cuts in the coming year. The survey’s results were presented as being in tension with the government’s stated ambition to make mainstream schools more inclusive for SEND pupils, with the poll highlighting a gap between policy direction and what schools say they can fund.

Experts cited alongside the findings said teaching assistants play an important role in supporting children with SEND. The reported reduction in teaching assistants was flagged as a potential obstacle to reforms aimed at improving inclusion in mainstream settings, given the day-to-day support these roles can provide in classrooms.

The poll’s publication comes as the government has announced additional funding for schools over the medium term. Officials have set out a £4.7 billion increase in the core schools budget by 2026-27, including £860 million for SEND plans. However, school leaders said the uplift would still be stretched because the same funding envelope must also cover expanded free school meals and teacher pay rises.

Budget pressures are also affecting how targeted funding streams are used. Nearly half of senior leaders (43%) said they are using pupil premium funding—intended to support disadvantaged pupils—to plug other gaps in school budgets. The survey results point to difficult trade-offs inside school finances, with leaders indicating that resources meant for specific priorities are being redirected to maintain overall provision.