SEND Funding

Harpreet Uppal Excerpts

Thursday 12th June 2025 Commons Chamber

[Harpreet Uppal (Huddersfield) (Lab)]

I thank the right hon. Member for Beverley and Holderness (Graham Stuart) for securing this important debate. This issue affects families in Huddersfield and across the country. I recently met SEND parents from Huddersfield to hear their experiences of the system. They are trying to do the right thing, and to get the right support for their children, but too often the system works against them. They told me that the system is difficult to navigate, especially the process of gaining an EHCP and any subsequent appeals processes. I also heard from parents who were struggling to access home-to-education transport, or who were not able to get their children into school due to poor mental health or it being the incorrect educational settings.

These stories are not one-offs. This is happening to too many families across the country, and it is clear that something has to change. I welcome the work of local support services, such as Kirklees Information, Advice and Support Service, which offers free and impartial advice, but it is dealing with a growing number of inquiries. In Huddersfield, we see growing demand for specialist support, but the funding is not keeping pace with that demand. Local services are stretched, schools are under pressure, and families are left to navigate a complex and often frustrating system.

Last week, I visited the fantastic Southgate school, a specialist school for children with complex special educational needs. I spent time with its amazing pupils and teaching staff. The teaching and support staff are passionate about their work, but they spoke to me about the increasing complexities that they are dealing with, and their struggle to access all the emotional and mental health support that they need for their pupils. The transition to post-16 support is a particular issue. They also asked me to raise the need to look again at the pay scale for support staff, who are valued members of the team. The issue of pay is impacting retention.

As the right hon. Member for Beverley and Holderness has said, there is a postcode lottery. Whether a child gets the help that they need often depends on local resources, not their actual needs. We need to take into account wider need, deprivation and the complexity of children’s circumstances. I welcome the Government’s recent moves to improve SEND provision. They include: injecting an additional £1 billion into services; investing £740 million in adapting classrooms and building specialist facilities; and restructuring the Department for Education to put SEND at its heart. Local authorities like Kirklees council need the tools and resources to respond properly to the challenges. Without a sustainable funding formula, local authorities will struggle to provide timely solutions.

Schools want to do the right thing, as do councils, but they are often forced to make impossible choices, and that leaves families to pick up the pieces. We need a long-term plan that gives certainty to local areas and puts the voices of parents, carers and children at the heart of decision making.