Major special educational needs reforms to come ‘in due course’ – minister

Schools minister Catherine McKinnell has declined to say when the Government will complete its promised special educational needs (SEN) reforms.

Ms McKinnell pledged changes will be “huge and complex”, setting up a system which is “inclusive, mainstream, with high and rising standards and opportunities for all”.

But when asked about a timescale for the reforms, she said she will outline required changes to the law and other areas “in due course”.

Ms McKinnell took an urgent question in the House of Commons on Thursday, after the National Audit Office (NAO) found the current SEN system is “financially unsustainable”.

Only half the education, health and care plans (EHCPs) – which set out the provision of SEN support a child or young person needs – were issued within the statutory 20-week time limit last year and the NAO has warned local authority dedicated schools grant deficits could still reach an estimated £4.6 billion by March 2026.

Asked by Conservative MP Nick Timothy (West Suffolk) for a timescale on EHCP reform, the minister replied: “I will always work with cross-party colleagues to achieve the best for all of our children in this country.

“But where the blame for the current situation is being laid at a Government of five months old is something that cannot be accepted or underestimated in terms of the inheritance that we have taken on.

“So, we will continue to try and to work to put right what has been failed on for the last 14 years and we are moving at pace to do that. All the work that we are doing at the Department for Education (DfE) is towards that end and we will make specific suggestions in terms of legislative changes and any other changes that need to be made of a systemic nature in due course.”

Labour backbencher Mark Sewards (Leeds South West and Morley) asked the minister to “give people hope” that provision will improve as he told the Commons: “As a secondary school maths teacher, I know all too well that SEN provision is not up to scratch and I have seen first-hand as both parents and children have lost hope that after 14 years of negligence by the party opposite they would ever, ever see an improvement in the system from the SEN crisis.”

To shouts of “how” from the Conservative benches, Ms McKinnell replied: “It really is an appalling legacy that we have inherited of failure on this front. We have prioritised this.

“We are absolutely determined to fix it, and it will take time, which (Mr Sewards) recognised, but we are moving at pace to fix this broken system.”

Labour MP Julie Minns (Carlisle) told MPs her child “was badly failed under the last government in terms of SEN provision”.

She said: “I would ask respectfully that members of the Opposition that until and unless you have walked in my shoes – and the shoes of your constituents, and this includes the shadow secretary of state (Damian Hinds) – that you show a little humility and decorum in how you respond on this issue.

“I would ask the minister if she could encourage schools in the review to be more flexible in how they provide that provision to children who need it.”

Munira Wilson, the Liberal Democrats education spokeswoman who tabled the urgent question, described a system “in crisis and on the brink”.

She said: “The previous Conservative government’s abject failure to tackle the systemic problems facing SEN provision have been laid bare for all to see.”

Ms McKinnell agreed “families and children with SEN are being failed on every measure”, and added the system had “totally lost the confidence of families”.

She said: “Our promise to families is that we are absolutely committed to regaining parents’ confidence in the special educational needs system, but it is a huge and complex reform, and there is no magic wand. There is no quick fix.”

On VAT applied to private schools, which Conservative shadow education minister James Wild raised, Ms McKinnell said the “Treasury is consulting on plans to enable the changes to come into force in January and how to design those plans to make sure that no child with special educational needs on an EHCP will be adversely affected”.

The NAO’s report described a SEN system which is “still not delivering better outcomes for children and young people or preventing local authorities from facing significant financial risks”.

Calling for a “whole-system reform”, the spending watchdog added: “DfE estimates that some 43% of local authorities will have deficits exceeding or close to their reserves in March 2026.

“This contributes to a cumulative deficit of between £4.3 billion and £4.9 billion when accounting arrangements that stop these deficits impacting local authority reserves are due to end. As such, the current system is not achieving value for money and is unsustainable.”