Schools Lack Staff and Funding to Deliver SEND Reforms, Union Warns

Claire Robertson has watched her staff at Cherry Fields Primary School in Banbury give everything they have to pupils with special educational needs. When the government published its long-awaited Schools White Paper on 23 February, she was hoping for a particular focus on training. "Our staff are wonderful," she told BBC News, "but we need to have access to appropriate training to support our young people."

Her concern proved widely shared. The National Education Union warned that schools do not have enough staff to make the government's Special Educational Needs and Disabilities reforms work, and that schools need more funding to make all classrooms inclusive. The warning came in direct response to the Schools White Paper, the government's formal policy document setting out its plans to overhaul a system that campaigners say has been chronically underfunded for years.

The White Paper, published 23 February 2026, includes proposals to roll out more "inclusion bases" in mainstream schools and to introduce new Individual Support Plans for every child with SEND. The government also set a target to halve the attainment gap between disadvantaged pupils and their peers in England by the time children born in this Parliament finish secondary school. Details of the proposals, including plans to reassess children's Education, Health and Care Plans after they leave primary school and again after GCSEs, had been leaked in the days before the White Paper was formally published.

Teaching unions said they would scrutinise the proposals closely. One described the new money as "barely a drop in the bucket" of what was needed, citing years of underfunding. The National Association of Head Teachers welcomed the principle of more funding to support pupils in mainstream schools, but said it would consult school leaders to weigh up whether the amounts were sufficient. Paul Whiteman, general secretary of the NAHT, said: "There will always be some pupils whose needs are so great that they require support in a special school, and it's crucial the government's plans ensure all children get the support they need at the right time in the right setting."

The National Autistic Society welcomed the expansion of inclusion bases as meeting one of its own recommendations but warned the reforms fell short in critical areas. "Extra investment is long overdue, and we are happy our recommendation to expand provision of inclusion bases has been met," the organisation said. "But there is not enough in the reforms to give overworked SENCOs, teachers and staff the full training, capacity and support they need for these reforms to succeed."

The Society also raised serious concerns about proposed changes to EHCPs and the SEND Tribunal, warning that autistic young people could miss out on the most appropriate school placement. For many autistic pupils, a place in a specialist school remains the only viable option, it stressed.

Mel Merritt, the National Autistic Society's Assistant Director of Policy, Research and Strategy, said the government's ambition for every child with SEND to have support through Individual Support Plans was welcome, but that families had already paid a heavy price for a broken system. "Autistic children and their families have been left exhausted and traumatised by long fights for support," she said. "Failing to deliver the right reforms will let children down and has long-lasting impacts that autistic people, families and the government will spend a lifetime paying for."

Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey said any changes to SEND must include better early intervention and universal screening "so that each child has the best chance to succeed.