Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will take steps to review the process by which councils allocate funding to mainstream schools to support children with EHCPs.

This government’s ambition is that all children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) receive the right support to succeed in their education and as they move into adult life.

The department is providing an increase of £1 billion for high needs budgets in England in the 2025/26 financial year, following the Autumn Budget 2024. This brings total high needs funding for children and young people with complex SEND to over £12 billion. Local authorities allocate this funding to schools, including for the costs of special provision in excess of £6,000 per annum for mainstream school pupils with education, health and care plans. The department provides operational guidance for local authorities to support their allocation of high needs funding, and this is reviewed prior to each financial year to which it applies. The full guidance for 2025/26 can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/high-needs-funding-arrangements-2025-to-2026.