To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she is taking steps to provide (a) further funding for Special Educational Needs provision and (b) increased resources for (i) specialist support services, (ii) therapies and (iii) interventions.
Answered on
24 May 2023
High needs funding for children and young people with complex special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) will be rising to £10.1 billion in the 2023/24 financial year. This is an increase of over 50% from the 2019/20 allocations. The funding will help local authorities and schools with the costs of supporting children and young people, including providing specialist support services, therapies and interventions.
We know that children and young people with SEND frequently require access to additional support from a broad specialist workforce across education, health and care. We are committed to improving the supply, training and deployment of key workforces to make the best use of professional expertise, in order to provide these specialist services, therapies and interventions.
In November 2022, the department announced funding worth £21 million to go towards training 400 more educational psychologists. This new funding, in place from 2024, builds on the £10 million announced earlier in 2022 to train over 200 educational psychologists from September 2023.