Special Educational Needs: Staff
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of funding and workforce capacity, including (a) specialist teachers, (b) teaching assistants, (c) therapists and (d) other support staff, to deliver the SEND support proposals in the Schools White Paper; and whether additional ring-fenced funding will be provided to local authorities and schools to recruit, retain, and reward qualified SEND professionals.
Answered by Georgia Gould
The department is investing to ensure all settings have the capacity, expertise and resources to support children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).
We are already seeing positive signs, the latest School Workforce Census reported strong growth in special school teachers, with a 3.9% increase on the previous year, 1,100 more teachers, reflecting the government’s determination to ensure that children with SEND receive the high-quality support they need and deserve.
On 15 April 2026 we announced the Experts at Hand & Local Authority SEND Transformation Fund. The overall grant provides £1.8 billion in Experts at Hand funding and £200m in transformation funding over the course of the three-year spending review period.
To support delivery, we are investing over £40m in the specialist workforce, including £26m to train more educational psychologists and £15m to support more speech and language therapists to work in education settings.
Verbatim has judged this answer against the question that was actually asked — answered, partly answered, or evaded. Sign in to see the verdict →