𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

Campaigners warn it will be “scandalous” if schools are forced to cut special needs staff in order to pay teachers’ wages. Teaching unions say schools are at a “breaking point”, with leaders and governors facing “impossible decisions” – and Labour could face a reckoning at the ballot box if young people lose out on Andy Burnham’s watch.

All but two of the 20 constituencies with the highest rates of special education needs and disabilities (SEND) are Labour-held, according to the SEND Matters Coalition. Champions of special needs education are demanding the Government “guarantee that not a single child will lose vital specialist support to pay for a funding shortfall”. It was announced in July that teachers will get a 3.5% pay rise. Despite an extra £700million for schools in 2026-27 and a boost – thought to be worth around £500million – as a result of schools keeping pension scheme savings, fears persist that SEND staff could be cut.

Helen Saul and Neil Giles, who together chair the SEND Matters Coalition, said they supported “better pay and working conditions for teachers” but warned it would be a “damning indictment of the Government’s priorities” if provision for children with special needs is “callously” slashed.

They warned: “The suggestion that schools could be forced to sack specialist SEND staff to fund teachers’ pay rises is nothing short of scandalous. The Government has pledged to improve SEND provision and make mainstream schools more inclusive, yet we now face the extraordinary prospect of the very staff who make that possible being sacrificed to balance the books.

“You cannot claim to be strengthening SEND provision while allowing the people delivering it to be made redundant. Teachers deserve fair pay, but children with the most complex needs must not be made to foot the bill.”

They warned that “some of the most vulnerable children in society” are “already being failed by a system stretched to breaking point”. Losing specialist staff, they added, would be a “betrayal of this Government’s pledge to put children at the heart of our education system”.

Julia Harnden, of the Association of School and College Leaders, said: “Whenever pay awards are not fully funded, this causes real problems for schools, as they must cover any shortfall from existing budgets, which are already overstretched. The Government’s SEND reforms are going to place greater responsibilities on mainstream schools when it comes to supporting children with complex special educational needs. If school budgets are continually being squeezed, it will be more difficult to do this.”

Daniel Kebede, general secretary of the National Education Union, said: “It is regrettable that the Government failed to include additional funding for SEND reforms and schools generally in this Budget. With schools at breaking point, this will inevitably mean school leaders and governors having to continue to make impossible decisions.”

And Matt Wrack, general secretary of the NASUWT union, warned: “Schools are already struggling with rising costs and cannot be placed in a position of having to choose between giving teachers the pay award they are entitled to and essential provision for pupils.” He added that “cutting jobs in a school to fund the pay award” would be “completely unacceptable”.

A Department for Education spokesperson said the concerns were “based on a fundamental misunderstanding of school funding,” adding: “This Government is backing schools with record investment. By September 2027 teachers will have seen pay increase by 17% since we took office, and we are providing an additional £700million for schools in 2026-27, rising to £1.1billion in 2027-28, helping schools continue to deliver the best outcomes for children.

“That’s on top of our £4billion-backed reforms to make sure every child with SEND gets the support they need, including by increasing access to specialists in every single school and rolling out training for every teacher.”