Education Select Committee calls for dedicated FE SEND funding stream and major overhaul of GCSE resit policy affecting thousands of students

The House of Commons Education Select Committee has delivered a damning assessment of post-16 SEND provision, calling for urgent reform of funding mechanisms and qualification pathways that are failing tens of thousands of young people with special educational needs and disabilities.

In its comprehensive report “Solving the SEND Crisis,” the cross-party committee exposes how students with SEND face a “sharp decline in support after the age of 16” despite SEND support officially extending to age 25.

Education Committee Chair Helen Hayes MP said:   

“When the Education Committee launched its inquiry, we already knew that the SEND system was broken, long past needing repair, and chronically letting down children, their families and their teachers. Our report presents a vision for how the Government can realise its laudable aim of making mainstream education inclusive to the vast majority of children and young people with SEND, who are present in every classroom. 

“This isn’t just blue sky thinking. A model the Government can learn from already exists in the Canadian state of Ontario, where we saw teachers actively try to meet the needs of their pupils from their first day at school. Closer to home, we witnessed an inspiring whole-school approach to SEND at two settings in Norfolk.

“We also call for an increase in the number of specialist state school places so that more children can be educated close to home, reducing the cost of transport and expensive independent school places.   

“Making sure every child in the country with SEND can attend a local school that meets their needs will require a root and branch transformation. SEND must become the business of every front line professional in educational settings, with in-depth training at the start and throughout the careers of teachers, senior leaders and teaching assistants.   

“The Government must develop a standardised, national framework for the support that children with SEND can expect in school, long before requiring an EHC plan, so that there can be confidence and clear lines of accountability. In the long term, a genuinely inclusive, well-resourced mainstream education system will bring down the desperate struggle to obtain an EHC plan. This will also help stabilise the sector financially.   

“We heard frustration from the local government and education sectors that the health service doesn’t prioritise SEND, and can be a blocker to families getting the support they need. The Government must put SEND firmly on the agenda of local NHS commissioners and appoint senior responsible officers for SEND at a local level.    

“Some of this Committee’s key recommendations will require investment to embed new practices and bring in new resources. But any piecemeal alternative would mean that we later look back at this period as the moment the Government failed to finally solve the SEND crisis.”

Critical Funding Gap Exposed

The committee’s investigation reveals that despite 26.3% of Education, Health and Care (EHC) plan holders being aged 16-25, less than 10% of the high needs budget reaches this age group. Most critically for FE providers, there is currently no dedicated funding stream for SEN support in further education.

The report concludes that “greater policy focus is required on further education provision for young people with SEND” and calls for an immediate introduction of a “dedicated and ring-fenced funding stream for SEN support beyond the age of 16.”

GCSE Resit Policy “Must Be Reformed”

In findings that will resonate across the FE sector, the committee concludes that the current condition of funding requiring GCSE resits in English and maths “must be reformed,” describing it as “demoralising for students and a huge strain on colleges and their staff.”

Despite modest improvements in attainment, the committee notes that 72% of students who fail to achieve Grade 4 at 16 still have not achieved this standard by 19, with students with SEN support around 40% less likely to pass English and maths.

The committee recommends a new three-route model:

• Route 1: Students with realistic prospects of Grade 4 continue with GCSE study
• Route 2: Vocational courses with embedded English and maths content could be exempt from GCSE requirements following employer consultation
• Route 3: Students unlikely to achieve Grade 4 should pursue functional skills qualifications focused on practical applications like financial literacy

Broader SEND System in Crisis

The post-16 challenges sit within a wider SEND system the committee describes as being at “breaking point.” Since 2014, the number of children with SEND has risen from 1.3 million to 1.7 million, with over 1.2 million receiving SEN support and nearly 500,000 holding EHC plans.

Key systemic issues identified include:

• Only 46.4% of EHC plans issued within the statutory 20-week timeframe
• 95% of SEND Tribunal cases found in favour of parents against local authorities
• Chronic underfunding with the notional £6,000 per pupil unchanged since 2014
• Workforce shortages with 19% vacancy rates for speech and language therapists

Government Response Awaited

The committee’s 95 recommendations represent the most comprehensive parliamentary examination of SEND provision in over a decade. The Government has committed to publishing a SEND White Paper in Autumn 2025.

The committee concluded: “Change is not optional—it is urgent and essential. The Department for Education must act decisively, working across government and with all stakeholders including children with SEND and their families to deliver a SEND system that is inclusive, fair, and fit for the future. Every child and young person with SEND has the right to thrive in education. We must not wait another decade to make that a reality.”

Sector Reaction

Pepe Di’Iasio, General Secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said:

“The Education Select Committee’s report is very clear – the SEND system requires major reform, and this cannot be done on the cheap.

“We welcome the committee’s recommendation of national standards and stronger accountability systems to hold schools to account for delivering inclusive practice.

“This is what school and college leaders already strive to achieve, but they are hampered by shortages of funding, resources, and specialist staff.

“School and college leaders want to work hand-in-hand with parents to deliver brilliant provision for children and young people with SEND.

“But the government’s planned reforms will struggle to achieve their objectives unless they are backed up with sufficient investment and resources.

“We welcome also the Education Select Committee’s call for the government to rethink its post-16 compulsory resits policy for GCSE English and maths.

“This policy is clearly not serving the best interests of the many students who retake these exams only to fall short of the grade 4 benchmark once again and are left utterly demoralised by the experience.”

Paul Whiteman, general secretary for school leaders’ union NAHT, said:

“School leaders agree that the best way to support all pupils is to make special educational needs support an intrinsic part of the school system. There should be a focus on SEND right from the early years – early identification and intervention is critical.

“We agree that as part of that intrinsic whole-school approach, all staff should be trained in SEND support, with a fully qualified Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator (SENCo) and professional development in SEND for all teachers.

“And there must be a collaborative multi-agency approach, with the onus not just on schools but on all health and child services to support children and young people with SEND. National standards for SEND would need to join together and hold to account all the services and avenues of provision needed to support children and young people with SEND, not just schools.

“School leaders agree with the ambition of inclusion, and with a more holistic approach to SEND support, but there must be a recognition that funding for SEND is currently insufficient and a re-thought system will need to be fully resourced in order to work.”

Jo Hutchinson, EPI’s Co-Director for Early Childhood and Wellbeing, said: 

“This is an important report that recognises that we must do more, and not less, to support children with SEND; and that there are no quick fixes that negate the need to invest in our school and specialist workforces to improve capacity and preparedness to meet the full range of childhood needs.

“A step change in training is essential. Current requirements fail to provide adequate grounding in knowledge of child development. Improved training in schools should be matched by better planning for the specialist workforce, from educational psychologists to speech and language therapists, so that support is available when and where children and young people need it. 

“SEND reform also demand a national curriculum with more space for personal, social and emotional development, and better coordination between NHS services and education. These improvements are unlikely to be achieved without proper funding and detailed implementation plans with realistic timelines. As the report points out, dismantling safeguards such as EHCPs and tribunals, will not solve deep-rooted systemic issues. 

“Prevention is typically more cost-effective than mitigation. Therefore, a renewed approach to additional needs must be complemented by a focus on tackling child poverty. The delayed child poverty strategy cannot wait any longer. Children already experiencing poverty must be better supported in school through targeted funding for persistently disadvantaged children.”

Daniel Kebede, general secretary of the National Education Union, said: 

“MPs have shown an understanding that the SEND crisis needs drastic solutions which are not cheap. The forthcoming Education White Paper must reflect this and provide radical but essential solutions in its proposals. 

“Families as well as teachers and leaders will welcome the recognition that mainstream schools need additional resources to meet SEND need.  

“Any ‘root and branch’ change to the system has to come from government. It must be more than just increased teacher and support staff CPD. The sector needs a firm commitment to a more understanding and inclusive behaviour and attendance model. We also need reform of the curriculum, assessment and accountability that has inclusion at its core. 

“The NEU has long campaigned for improvements on child poverty and specifically the removal of the two-child benefit cap. This reminder to government to continue its focus on tackling poverty as part of the inclusion agenda must be taken seriously. 

“Teachers and support staff stand ready alongside pupils and their families to work with the government on getting SEND provision right and building a more inclusive education system so that every child can thrive.”