8th May 2026 • My Family Our Needs

Research from Sutton Trust has revealed that school leaders are cutting back on SEND support.

According to the research two-fifths of school leaders in England have been forced to cut back on support for children with special educational needs due to financial crisis.

The research was conducted by the National Foundation of Educational Research on behalf of the Sutton Trust and surveyed 1,105 state-school teachers.

The survey results showed 71% of leaders said that they had to cut down on teaching assistants (TAs) in the past year, while 49% have reduced support staff. 81% of respondents state that this could escalate and warn of further cuts in the year ahead.

Experts argue that TAs play a vital role in supporting SEND students in mainstream schools, and without them meeting the governments ambitions will be impossible.

The research also found that SEND cuts were significantly worse in primary schools compared to secondary schools.

These findings are being released as the government plans to overhaul the current special needs system, with plans to make mainstream schools more inclusive to SEND students.

In response to the research, Pepe Di’Iasio, General secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said, ‘This research shows the contradiction which exists between the government’s aspirations for the education system and the amount of money that it is prepared to provide to realise those aspirations.

‘That contradiction is perhaps most stark in the fact that many schools are having to cut resourcing for SEND support at exactly the time the government has launched a programme of major reforms which involve far more expectations on mainstream schools.

‘Although the government has made some additional funding available, this is unlikely to be sufficient to support reforms on the scale envisaged or address existing funding shortages.’

Daniel Kebede, General Secretary of the National Education Union, said, ‘This is the uncomfortable reality that the government simply will not face up to. Schools are running on empty and are having to make cuts to essentials simply to survive. It is indefensible that government continues to underfund schools. It is impossible for schools to meet the government’s ambitions on SEND support.’

Dr Sally Payne, Professional Advisor for Children and Young People at the Royal Collage of Occupational Therapists, said, ‘All children have a right to education, as well as the right to access a range of opportunities and any support they need in school.

‘It’s deeply frustrating that, despite growing recognition of the importance of supporting pupils with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), the system is still not enabling funding and resources to reach children in the way they’re intended. Too often, schools are under such pressure that vital support is diluted or diverted, leaving pupils with SEND without the help they need.’

In other news, a pioneering tool transforming music education for disabled children has been developed by the charity, The OHMI Trust.