Autumn Budget 2025: What it means for schools and the SEND system
The Autumn Budget 2025 arrives at a moment of acute pressure for schools, particularly across the North East — and once again, it’s deeply disappointing. After more than a decade of being asked to do more with less, the absence of meaningful new investment in education, alongside growing uncertainty around SEND funding, has left school leaders justifiably concerned about the sustainability of the system.
To put it bluntly, this Budget fails to engage with the reality facing schools on the ground: rising levels of need, collapsing multi-agency support, widening regional inequalities, and a SEND system operating far beyond its capacity.
Doing more with less
Per-pupil funding has only returned to 2010 levels in the last academic year, while costs for staffing, energy, transport and SEND provision have continued to rise sharply. With the last 15 years having been the biggest real-terms fall in school funding in 40 years, many schools have already exhausted opportunities to make further “internal savings”.
At the same time, schools are increasingly absorbing responsibilities for services that have broken down around them, from CAMHS to early years, often becoming the ‘go to’ public service for families in their communities.
SEND funding: Uncertainty and risk
The Budget announcement that all SEND spending will be absorbed within existing departmental limits from 2028–29 brings significant risk. While this is, understandably, intended to stop further growth in local authority DSG deficits, there is no clarity on how it will work in practice.
On current policy, local authorities would be required to recognise historic DSG deficits (expected to reach £14 billion nationally) on their balance sheets, creating a real risk of councils being unable to set balanced budgets.
What’s more, further details have been deferred until the Local Government Finance Settlement in December 2025, leaving schools and councils facing prolonged uncertainty.
The north–south divide continues to be ignored
The Budget once again fails to address deep-rooted structural inequalities between the North and South.
The North East faces the highest levels of child poverty in England, the lowest EHCP completion rates, the steepest projected fall in pupil numbers, and some of the oldest school buildings. These pressures interact, stretching already-tight budgets even further, while other regions benefit from stronger infrastructure and faster access to specialist services.
Revealing the stark truth through Schools North East case studies
Schools North East has gathered a compelling series of case studies from our region’s education leaders, highlighting the real pressures they face: financial constraints, limited support, and the growing demands of serving their wider communities.
Since sharing these stories last week, they’ve already attracted significant attention from local and national media, including BBC and ITV, helping to put the voices of our school leaders firmly on the national stage and strengthen our advocacy for the change our schools urgently need.
We’re always looking to hear from our network of 1,150 schools. If you’d like to contribute and share your own experiences through a case study, please email policy@schoolsnortheast.com
SEND and inclusion cannot be an afterthought
Under-funding SEND does not reduce demand, it shifts costs elsewhere. Mainstream schools with high levels of inclusion are doing more than ever with limited support, while workforce shortages and delays in assessment continue to undermine children’s access to help.
With a Schools White Paper expected in early 2026, Schools North East is clear that reform without funding will fail.
Chris Zarraga, Director of Schools North East, said: “Schools in the North East have been asked to deliver more academic success, more inclusion, more safeguarding and more wellbeing support – all with less real-terms funding and shrinking external services.
“However, schools face rising need, collapsing multi-agency support, and falling rolls, but the Budget offers no recognition of these pressures, let alone solutions.”
What needs to change
Schools North East is calling for urgent action, including:
- A Regional Structural Disadvantage Premium;
- Falling Rolls Protection for schools facing demographic decline;
- Targeted investment in SEND assessment and workforce capacity;
- An Inclusion Premium for schools with high SEND concentrations; and
- Rebuilding multi-agency support around schools
Levelling up education cannot mean raising expectations without improving conditions. Without sustained, targeted investment, schools — and the SEND system in particular — will remain locked in crisis management, to the detriment of children and communities across the North East.