Devon County Councillors have agreed a bold new strategy to reshape support for children and young people with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND), aiming to create a more inclusive education system across the county.
The SEND Sufficiency Strategy 2025–2030 sets out how Devon will meet rising demand for SEND provision while reducing reliance on independent specialist placements.
The plan focuses on early intervention, local provision, and building inclusive communities, in line with national reforms expected to be formalised in a Schools White Paper next year.
Over the past year, the number of children with Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCPs) has grown by more than 11 per cent nationally, with Devon seeing similar pressures.
This has led to increased demand for specialist provision and significant strain on the council’s High Needs Block funding.
To address this, the council has already expanded specialist provision, adding nearly 700 special school places since 2018 and opening new schools in Newton Abbot, Okehampton, and Tiverton.
But this approach alone is sustainable. Instead, the new strategy prioritises strengthening mainstream schools to meet a broader range of predicted SEN needs, supported by locality-based multi-agency teams, enhanced inclusive practices, and reviewing the county special school provision.
Councillor Denise Bickley, the council’s Cabinet Member with responsibility for services that support children and young people with SEND, said:
“This strategy clearly sets out our aims, to enable children to go to a well-resourced school within their locality, alongside their peers wherever possible.
“For the first time we will begin understanding the requirements of children with additional needs coming through the system, and will be able to make early decisions about placements, giving clarity to young people and their families and to the schools to enable them to plan.”
Julian Wooster, Director of Children and Young People’s Futures, said:
“Inclusion is a national priority for all schools.
“The national view from the Department for Education is that there is sufficient special school provision across the country. Their focus is on supporting mainstream schools to support more pupils with special educational needs.
“Our strategy therefore reflects the priorities of the Secretary of State about local provision.
“The number of children in Devon who are going into the independent, non-maintained sector is higher than the national average. We want to make sure that our mainstream schools in the state sector can support those children rather than going into the independent sector.”
The Leader of Devon County Council, Councillor Julian Brazil, said:
“We are moving ahead with what we think is the right way to deliver SEND to provide the improvement that we need here in Devon. We want to be in a position where we say to government, this is what’s best for us and we will do it, but we need your support and we hope that you will come with us.”
The council is calling for additional government investment to deliver the transformation at scale, including funding for inclusive capacity in schools, workforce development, and integrated support services.
Without this, the council’s warns, financial pressures could hinder progress.
The strategy also supports the council’s environmental goals by reducing long-distance travel for SEND pupils and promoting local provision, while aligning with the council’s commitment to equality and inclusion.