Cllr Alex Dale is the Leader of the Conservative Group on Derbyshire County Council and chairman of the F40 Group, a cross-party coalition of 40+ local authorities campaigning for fairer education funding and SEND reform
For the Conservative Party, this is a moment for reflection.
Education is rightly cited as one of our proudest achievements in government. Over the past decade and a half, we transformed school standards. In 2010, just 68 per cent of schools were rated good or outstanding; by 2024, that figure had risen to around 90 per cent, a dramatic improvement on where we started.
But no government record is without its blind spots. And none is more pressing, or more uncomfortable, than the crisis in Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND).
Our 2014 SEND reforms were not born of neglect, but of compassion and conviction. David Cameron’s own experience as a parent helped drive a system intended to be fairer, more responsive, and more humane. The ambition was clear: to end the “constant battle” parents faced, strengthen legal rights, and deliver better outcomes for children.
They were widely supported across the political spectrum. Few doubted that we were doing the right thing.
But good intentions were not enough. With the benefit of hindsight, policy must be judged as much by its consequences as by its aims. And the unintended consequences of the 2014 reforms have been profound.
First, the system has become increasingly adversarial. Despite promises of collaboration, many parents feel the fight for support is as hard as ever. Trust between families, schools and local authorities has too often broken down.
Second, the system is financially unsustainable. Demand for SEND support has risen far beyond what anyone anticipated. The number of children with Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCPs) has more than doubled since 2015, rising by around 140 per cent to well over half a million. Crucially, this growth is exponential, with annual increases now exceeding 10 per cent, meaning greater strain each year on an already overstretched system.
Even with significant increases in funding, with high needs budgets rising by around 58 per cent over the past decade to more than £10 billion a year, resources have not kept pace. Local authorities are now facing cumulative deficits of around £6 billion. These are not the result of profligacy, but of a system under intensifying and unsustainable pressure.
Third, capacity simply has not kept up with need. There are not enough specialist places, driving increasing reliance on independent provision, often at double or triple the cost of maintained settings. Meanwhile, mainstream schools, where the majority of children should be supported, often lack the resources, clarity and confidence to deliver inclusive education effectively.
And most troubling of all, outcomes for children have not improved. We are spending more, yet too many families, schools and councils remain dissatisfied. And too many children are not receiving the support they need to thrive.
Something has to change.
The failure of the last Conservative Government was not the introduction of reform, but the inability to respond quickly enough when it became clear the system was veering off course. From around 2019 onwards, the warning signs were unmistakable. While funding increases were welcome, they were never sufficient to meet rising demand.
The SEND and Alternative Provision Green Paper took too long to emerge and, while its diagnosis was sound, its remedies lacked urgency. Implementation was painfully slow.
By 2024, there was a broad consensus across the sector: the system was no longer just struggling, it was fundamentally broken.
That brings us to today.
As Chair of f40, the cross-party campaign group representing 43 of the lowest-education-funded local authorities, I have long argued for both fairer funding and fundamental SEND reform. So, while I approach this Labour Government with no shortage of scepticism, I also believe in giving credit where it’s due.
Their recently announced SEND reforms, alongside the Schools White Paper, suggest a serious attempt to grapple with the scale of the challenge.
The shift towards earlier intervention, greater inclusion, and standardised support packages reflects much of what f40 has long called for. Moving away from over-reliance on EHCPs towards clearer national support levels has the potential to reduce conflict, improve consistency, and ensure help is provided earlier.
There’s also a welcome recognition that the current system of local authority deficits is untenable. The proposal to address the vast majority (up to 90 per cent) of these historic deficits is not just pragmatic, but fair. These debts were never of councils’ making, and resolving them is essential if we’re to reset the system.
But optimism must be tempered with realism. The devil will, as always, be in the detail, particularly around funding. Greater expectations on mainstream schools must be matched with resources and support, or we risk repeating past mistakes. There are also concerns about pace: with demand rising, reforms that take years to embed risk prolonging the crisis.
And there is, of course, the political question. This is a Government that has u-turned so often it scarcely seems to know which direction it is facing. Time and again, bold rhetoric has given way to retreat when the pressure builds. Nowhere was that clearer than in the shambolic handling of welfare reform, where even modest reforms fizzled out into nothing. The risk, as ever, is that what sounds radical on paper fails to survive contact with political reality.
But on SEND, there are early signs of a more considered approach.
For Conservatives, the question now is how we respond.
We should be honest about the system we left behind, acknowledge where it fell short, and resist opposing reform for opposition’s sake.
SEND must rise above party politics. It’s about ensuring our most vulnerable children can thrive, and building a system that works for families, schools and the public purse.
If the Government is serious, it deserves constructive engagement. This is our opportunity not just to reflect, but to lead, and finally deliver on the promise made over a decade ago.