£6,000 a pupil, set in 2013 from 2009 costs: why councils are refusing a SEND funding trial
What happened
A trial designed to change how funding for children with special educational needs and disabilities reaches schools is struggling to find councils willing to take part. The Department for Education announced the trial in July 2026. The idea is to move SEND funding into mainstream schools, rather than routing it through the current system, ahead of broader reforms planned for 2029-30. Councils were invited to express an interest. According to reporting by Schools Week published on 24 September 2026, at least one in five of England's 153 councils have ruled themselves out. Thirty-two declined outright. Only three confirmed they were interested, with a possible total of around twelve that remains unconfirmed. The reason given repeatedly was risk. Councils said it would be unwise to experiment with special needs finances while other major reforms are already under way. At the centre of the argument is a single figure. Mainstream schools currently receive £6,000 per pupil to cover additional needs before higher-tier funding kicks in. That figure has not changed since 2013, and it was based on cost estimates from 2009. Stephen Morales, chief executive of the Centre for Education Operational Excellence, put the objection plainly: 'You cannot realise reforms without investment in those reforms.' Others quoted in the reporting included Margaret Mulholland, SEND and inclusion specialist at the Association of School and College Leaders, Leora Cruddas, chief executive of the Confederation of School Trusts, and Christine Townsend, chair of Bristol's children and young people committee.
Why this matters
Almost everyone involved in education agrees the SEND system is not working. Parents describe fighting for support. Schools describe running out of money. Councils describe deficits they cannot close. The disagreement is about what to do, not whether something must be done. That is what makes this story significant. This is not opposition to reform in principle. It is councils - the bodies that would have to run the trial - saying the numbers do not work. The £6,000 figure explains why. When a child in a mainstream school needs extra support, the school is expected to fund the first £6,000 of it from its own budget. Only beyond that does additional funding follow. So the school absorbs the cost of every pupil who needs help but not a great deal of it - which is most of them. That threshold was set in 2013, using cost estimates from 2009. Since then teaching assistant wages, national insurance contributions, energy bills and everything else a school buys have risen considerably. A pound of that £6,000 buys markedly less support than it did. So a reform that moves money into mainstream schools, without changing how much money there is, asks schools to do more with a budget whose real value has been shrinking for over a decade. That is the objection councils are making, and it is not an unreasonable one. For families, the stakes are direct. Children waiting for support are not waiting in the abstract. They are in a classroom now, and a year of missed support at seven is not recoverable at seventeen.
What the evidence actually says
A few things are worth separating out. The figures on council participation come from reporting by Schools Week, an education news outlet, rather than from a published government statistical release. Schools Week is a well-established specialist publication with a good record on this kind of reporting, but the numbers are its own count rather than an official figure. 'At least one in five' and 'a possible twelve, unconfirmed' are honest descriptions of an incomplete picture, and should be read that way. The £6,000 threshold and its history, by contrast, are matters of record and are not disputed by anyone. What is genuinely contested is the direction of the reform itself. There is a real argument, supported by many inclusion specialists, that routing more funding and expertise into mainstream schools is the right thing to do - that children do better in their local school with proper support than in a system that pushes them towards specialist placements through a process of attrition. The disagreement here is not mainly about that principle. It is about whether it can be done without more money. It is also early. Expressions of interest are the first stage, not the last. A trial with a small number of councils can still produce useful evidence, and departments frequently adjust terms when take-up is low. What cannot be read from this is that the wider reforms are in trouble. Those are planned for 2029-30 and are a separate, larger exercise.
Practical advice
If you are a parent or carer of a child with special educational needs, policy arguments can feel very distant from the daily one. Here is what is actually useful. Every school in England must publish a SEND information report on its website, setting out what support it offers. It is a legal requirement. Reading your school's is a good first step and often more specific than people expect. Every school must have a SENCO - a special educational needs coordinator. Ask for a meeting with them by name rather than raising things informally at the door. Schools are expected to follow a cycle known as assess, plan, do, review - identifying need, agreeing what will be done, doing it, then reviewing whether it worked. Asking which stage your child is at, and when the review is, changes the conversation from a general worry into a specific plan. If support at school level is not enough, you can request an Education, Health and Care needs assessment from your local council. A parent can make that request directly. You do not need the school's permission, although their support helps. Every council must run a SENDIASS service - free, impartial advice for parents on special educational needs. They are independent of the school and of the council's decision-making, and they are free. Very many parents have never heard of them. Keep a written record. Dates, who you spoke to, what was agreed. If things become difficult later, contemporaneous notes matter enormously. And if your child's needs include health conditions requiring medicines in school, the school should have an individual healthcare plan. Your GP or pharmacist can help you set out what is needed in writing.
What to know
A Department for Education trial to move SEND funding into mainstream schools is short of takers. At least one in five of England's 153 councils have ruled themselves out, 32 declined outright, and only three have confirmed interest, according to Schools Week reporting published on 24 September 2026. The core objection is the £6,000 per pupil that mainstream schools must spend on additional needs before further funding follows. That threshold has not moved since 2013 and was based on 2009 costs. The councils' argument is not against reform but against reform without investment - summed up by Stephen Morales: 'You cannot realise reforms without investment in those reforms.' The numbers come from specialist journalism rather than an official release, and expressions of interest are an early stage. Broader SEND reforms are still planned for 2029-30. For families, the things that already exist and are underused: your school's published SEND information report, the SENCO, the right to request an EHC needs assessment yourself, and your council's free SENDIASS advice service. Sources: Schools Week, 'Councils shun trial to move SEND funding into mainstream schools' by Ruth Lucas, 24 September 2026, https://schoolsweek.co.uk/councils-shun-trial-to-move-send-funding-into-mainstream-schools/; GOV.UK, 'Special educational needs and disability code of practice: 0 to 25 years', https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/send-code-of-practice-0-to-25; GOV.UK, 'Children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND)', https://www.gov.uk/children-with-special-educational-needs. This article is for general information and does not replace advice from a doctor, pharmacist or other qualified healthcare professional.
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