A great school experience is one that is academically challenging, rich in opportunity and built on strong relationships. That requires an inclusive school system in every part of the country—one that stretches every young person further, and in which children with additional needs are included not only by individual schools, but by the system as a whole.
Across the last 30 years, successive reforms have improved standards within our schools, which are led by great leaders and teachers. But too many children and young people are still being left behind due to their educational needs or their background, or are simply not being stretched to achieve all that they should. We are going to change that. Ahead of our White Paper next year, we are getting on with building the foundations of a new, inclusive system that delivers for children and earns the confidence of parents. Trusts are crucial to this vision, and some of our strongest trusts continue to build on the pioneering spirit of early academies, using that innovation and community-driven ethos to spread best practice and create resilient systems that support every child to thrive. The schools White Paper will build on that legacy of innovation and collaboration, and will set out the Government’s vision for a future education system that enables every child to achieve and thrive.
As a key step towards that vision of ensuring that all our schools, colleges and nurseries are inclusive by design, today I am announcing at least £3 billion in investment over the next four years to create 50,000 places for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities across England. This investment will fund a landmark expansion of specialist, calm learning spaces within mainstream settings. It builds on the £740 million we have already invested to create 10,000 places, through specialist spaces in mainstream, accessibility adaptations, and special schools for children with the most complex needs, where necessary. This four-year funding horizon will also give local authorities the ability to plan, and will deliver high-quality, specialist provision for the children and young people who need it.
To ensure children get the specialist places they need as quickly as possible, we are offering local authorities a choice around next steps for the pipeline of special or alternative provision schools. Local authorities will, as an alternative, be given the option of funding to deliver the same number of specialist places through SEN units and resource provisions, the expansion of existing specialist settings or other adaptations, in order to get provision in place for children and young people more quickly. Working hand in hand with strong academy trusts, local authorities can deliver these places faster and more cost-effectively than via new free schools, meaning that more children will benefit sooner.
For those projects that do not have trusts appointed, and that are furthest from opening—some will not do so until 2030—we will provide direct funding to the local area, so that much-needed places are delivered more quickly. This funding is in addition to the core high needs capital allocations that all local authorities will receive. Our special schools do vital work supporting some of our most vulnerable children and young people and preparing them for adult life, and in some local authorities, a new special free school will remain the best solution.
Partnership working is central to delivering better experiences and outcomes for all our children. Local authorities should work closely with the trusts appointed to run free schools as they decide whether to accept the alternative funding offer. Where they proceed, they should collectively engage other education settings, parent and carer forums, and local stakeholders to develop plans that deliver places through alternative routes—such as high-quality SEN units and resource provisions, or the expansion of existing specialist provision.
Mainstream free schools will continue to be an enabler of this inclusive vision where they meet need and drive up standards. Multi-academy trusts have driven collaboration and innovation across the system, and in some cases the free schools programme has been crucial to meeting demographic need and pioneering new models that can raise standards. However, we must act in line with the evidence. Projects have opened where there is no need, and have later closed, diverting millions of pounds that could have supported children with SEND or addressed urgent-condition needs in existing schools. Even during the demographic boom of the last decade, the National Audit Office estimated that 57,500 places planned by 2021 would represent spare capacity. Between 2014-15 and 2023-24, the previous Government committed over £10 billion to new free schools, but under £7 billion to school rebuilding, despite mounting evidence of an estate in need of repair and the impact of poor-condition buildings on pupil attainment. Today we know that primary pupil numbers have been falling since 2018-19, with that decline set to feed into secondary. We will not pour money into new schools simply to close them again in a few years.
Accordingly, as part of our review of the mainstream free schools pipeline, projects that proceed will be those that meet the needs of communities, respond to demographic and housing demand, and raise standards without undermining the viability of existing local schools and colleges. We will back new schools that offer something unique to students who would otherwise not have had access to it. In particular, we will open new maths schools and Eton Star 16-to-19 accelerator schools, ensuring that more talented students in the north and the midlands gain a fairer chance to progress to leading universities, or to pursue advanced mathematics. We will continue to provide capital funding through the basic need grant, to support local authorities in creating new mainstream school places, where necessary. Ministers have written to trusts, local authorities and MPs, setting out which projects will progress and which I am minded to cancel. There is a window for representations where a ‘minded to cancel’ letter has been issued.
The money saved by cancelling projects in areas of surplus will be used to support the 50,000 new specialist places. Instead of adding a few thousand mainstream free school places where sufficient capacity already exists, we will deliver places that enable pupils with SEND to access the right support in a setting close to home, making mainstream provision more inclusive, and ensuring that specialist support is available where it is most needed.
This is how we renew our education system—by building provision that is inclusive by design, anchored in need, and focused on high and rising standards for all.
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