4 in 5 school leaders struggling to meet needs of SEND pupils due to lack of specialist provision

Today, Saturday 3 May, school leaders’ union NAHT has released the results of a snap poll of its members which shows that 4 out of 5 respondents have pupils in mainstream classes whose needs should be met in specialist provision because of a lack of availability of specialist places.

The poll received 873 responses from school leaders across England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, in both mainstream and specialist schools, and was conducted 23-28 April 2025.

It found that:

• 82% of respondents said there are pupils in their school for whom specialist provision has been agreed in their EHCP, but they are currently being supported in mainstream classes because there are no available specialist places.

• 94% of respondents from a mainstream setting said that meeting the needs of SEND pupils in their schools is harder or much harder than this time last year.

• 98% of respondents from a mainstream setting said they do not have the resources to meet the needs of all the SEND pupils in their school.

Paul Whiteman, general secretary of NAHT, said: “School leaders are passionate about ensuring every child’s needs are met. However, the needs of many pupils are becoming more complex, and the funding and resources are simply not there to meet that growing need. Our members are telling us that it is one of, if not the biggest issue in their schools. There is no higher priority now in education than fixing the SEND crisis.

“Right now, too many schools have children who should be getting specialist support who are being let down by the lack of capacity and availability of places in the specialist sector. Schools are desperately trying to do their best for those pupils but without access to the specialist help they need; their hands are tied.

“We also know that many special schools are struggling to meet the demand on them for places and are massively oversubscribed. No one who works in schools wants to ever feel like they are failing a child, but right now, too many school leaders are frustrated that they can’t fully meet the needs of the pupils in their care, and we know many parents are frustrated too.”

Delegates to NAHT’s annual conference in Harrogate between 2-3 May will be debating and voting on a variety of motions calling for more funding, training, and support for educating SEND pupils. In particular, they are calling for the number of children currently taught in a mainstream school who instead require a place in a specialist school to be urgently identified and accommodated.

The motion reads: ‘Both special and mainstream schools are over-stretched, resulting in over-subscription of special schools, and an increasing number of children whose needs would arguably be best met in a special school, instead being taught in mainstream schools. MP constituency surgeries are frequently dominated by questions from parents desperate for their children to receive the specialist education they need and deserve. The UK government needs to value and support inclusive practice for the majority while also considering efficiency and sufficiency of provision for the more complex minority.’

Mr Whiteman added: “We are not opposed to the government wanting mainstream schools to be inclusive, and school leaders take this duty really seriously. But they need more funding, resources, and specialist staffing to be able to support their students appropriately and effectively.

“And this doesn’t remove the fact that there will also always be a need for special school places for pupils with the greatest needs. Capacity in both mainstream and specialist schools must match need.”

Headteacher of Wargrave House School in Newton-le-Willows, Carl Glennon, commented: “Despite being a non-maintained specialist setting that usually sits outside of this network, we see it as our responsibility to not only support the pupils in our care, but to share our expertise more widely to help meet the needs of all young people with SEND.

“There is no question that demand for specialist places is increasing – both in terms of numbers and complexity of need. As a specialist setting, we are seeing the ripple effects of this in the way referrals are being made and the growing desperation among families and schools alike. We have an ever-growing waiting list and have hosted events for prospective parents attended by nearly 70 concerned parents and guardians in our local area.

“Local authorities are working within extremely tight parameters, and whilst we understand the pressures they face, there are occasions where delays in allocation or a reluctance to fund non-maintained placements means young people’s needs are not being met early enough.

“One of the most effective responses we’ve seen is increased collaboration – not just between schools and families, but across sectors. That’s why we’ve gone directly to local school networks to offer free support in developing more inclusive SEND practice. We believe that by sharing our expertise, we can ease pressure on the system and ultimately improve outcomes for children and young people.

“This isn’t just about capacity, it’s about how we use the knowledge and resources we already have more effectively. There’s a real opportunity here to foster new models of support that bridge the gap between mainstream and specialist provision.”

Ania Hildrey, headteacher of Abbot’s Lea School in Liverpool, said: “As a teacher with nearly 30 years of special education experience under my belt, and a headteacher with over two decades of leadership in special schools, I wholeheartedly endorse the NAHT’s urgent call to recognise the unprecedented pressures on the SEND system. The findings outlined in this latest poll reflect a national crisis that is not looming – it is already here. The education sector stands at a critical juncture, and the fragility of our current system can no longer be ignored.

“Mainstream schools have embraced the moral and statutory imperative of inclusion with admirable commitment. Across the country, educators are striving daily to support children with increasingly complex needs – often in the face of dwindling resources, patchy training opportunities, and a stark insufficiency of specialist placements. The system is straining under the weight of unmet demand, and while the rhetoric of inclusion persists, the infrastructure to support it lags dangerously behind.

“At Abbot’s Lea School, we serve nearly 300 students with autism and co-existing complex needs – on a site originally designed to accommodate under 100. Ours is a school born from a post-war act of generosity – a donated manor house adapted over the years to respond to evolving educational demands. But we are now operating beyond sustainable limits. Our physical environment, staffing capacity, and therapeutic provision are woefully inadequate and stretched to their maximum – and still, the referrals, and SEND Tribunals just keep coming.

“The statistic that four in five school leaders are supporting children in mainstream settings who require specialist provision is not just a data point; it is an indictment of a system that is failing to match need with capacity. This is not an abstract policy dilemma – it is a daily reality for educators, families, and most importantly, the children and young people whose right to appropriate specialist education (whether in a suitably resourced mainstream, or special school) is being compromised.

“Inclusion must remain a central tenet of our educational philosophy, but it must be matched by strategic investment and pragmatic realism. The truth is: some children require specialist environments to thrive. Expanding the capacity of special schools is not a retreat from inclusion; it is a sophisticated response to diversity of need. It can also provide better value for money and return on investment if a truly person-centred, lifetime perspective was to be truly embraced.

“We must move beyond platitudes and commit to meaningful reform. This includes a substantial increase in capital investment, workforce development, and multi-agency collaboration. Our nation’s children deserve a system designed with their needs at its core; not one that merely reacts to crisis.

“Only through bold, informed, and compassionate action can we reclaim the integrity of our SEND provision – and in doing so, affirm our collective commitment to equity, dignity, and excellence in education for all.”

NAHT’s poll also received anonymous comments from school leaders who responded, highlighting the severity of the crisis:

“We are at crisis point with the level of need and what we can actually offer the children. We are not fulfilling EHCP provision as we do not have the resources. Staff morale is low, and staff are leaving the profession.”

“We’re a small school and we’re stretched to breaking point. The number of children coming into nursery and reception with SEND issues has doubled over the last 3 years.”

“Specialist places are increasingly difficult to get and support services are increasingly difficult to access. We want to include children in our setting and are honest about not being able to meet severe and complex needs yet feel that we are regarded as trying to avoid inclusion.”

“We have children who would benefit from specialist provision, and this should be on their EHCP, but the local authority will not state this until the placement with us ‘fails’ and we can’t meet needs, and the child is in distress.”

“Mainstream schools are being expected to meet needs of children with significant need and complex cases to the detriment of their education and that of others. Recruiting staff to support these children is very difficult, almost impossible.”

“We are in a deficit budget position. We are supporting children with significant needs and don’t receive the funding we need to meet the children’s needs. The impact is that it is having a detrimental impact on the education of others in school.”

“School leaders are being placed in an impossible situation currently – with limited budgets and lack of suitably qualified and experienced staff to provide the support needed for children with increasingly complex SEND needs. Local authorities are under similar pressure with the lack of capacity in staffing to provide schools with the support they need.”

“It is harder and harder to find external support for SEND pupils that is timely and meaningful. Lots of professional agencies are full and have little to no capacity to support. Reports are becoming more and more generalised, and the support is just not there for the majority.”

“Funding for SEND is diabolical. The pressure waiting for or fighting for EHCPs means either children are without the funding they require, or schools are having to provide out of their own pocket. This means there is less support for other children, creating a bigger attainment gap as support is pulled away [from] high-needs pupils.”

“We are finding that children joining us in reception year who are in obvious need of an EHCP have not even had the process started at their nursery settings. This means the children have to ‘cope’ in mainstream settings while school begins the process. Staff have to manage extremely difficult and stressful situations in class without enough support or specialist help and resources while trying to meet the needs of all the other children too.”

A livestream of this motion being heard, and of all NAHT’s annual conference will be available on its specified webpage.