Last week I hosted an event for people to discuss the future of Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) provision. When I decided to set it up, I assumed it might get a decent turnout.
After housing, the second most common complaint in my surgery and inbox is from parents or relatives about the issues that they face in getting an appropriate level of care for children in schools. The turnout smashed all of my expectations.
That SEND is in a mess is well-established. All sides of the House acknowledge it. A cross-party report from the Education Select Committee in October 2025 laid out bare how the current system was at “breaking point” with “families are forced into adversarial battles for basic entitlements, while educators and professionals operate within systems that are under-resourced and overwhelmed. The evidence is clear: the current model is unsustainable, inequitable, and failing to deliver the outcomes our children deserve.”
That report made a number of different recommendations including, among many others, better provision of SEND in mainstream schools, stable and secure funding including into capital projects, more accountability, redress for parents and a greater role and obligations for health trusts and integrated care boards.
The current system is damaging children, demoralising parents and destabilising local government.
The government has already made a number of important decisions that are a step in the right direction. Local Authorities are now, after the School and Wellbeing Bill, able to get directly involved in the provision and administration of school places, including SEND, in their areas something they had been prevented from doing under the Conservatives. The government made a big commitment (£11.9bn, a 9% increase) to Higher Needs funding in the Budget 2024. £1bn has been added to High Needs Budget to create 44,500 new places in mainstream schools by 2028 and £740m in capital to adapt mainstream schools so as to take more children with additional needs.
There is also the White Paper due in the New Year which will set out government plans for reform of the SEND system.
I wanted to find out from local parents the issues that they’ve faced in Oxfordshire and crucially what they feel needs doing to fix it.
Parents told me their stories and what they would like to see. They said that we need better early years intervention. Quicker diagnosis and more support for children with SEND. Schools to have the resources and the skills to care for all children. More accountability for education and health providers. A greater role for parents and an end to the adversarial system.
The main thing that came out of the meeting however was the need for change and the desire for that change to be bold. They’re crying out for it. I am hopeful that the government is listening and will deliver.
