Plans to deliver thousands of new special school places by 2026 are falling seriously behind, with experts branding the building programme “a mess”, the Observer can reveal.
The news calls into question the only announcement on schools the chancellor made in last week’s budget – a commitment of £105m towards 15 additional special schools.
Last March, the Department for Education announced that 33 local authorities had been awarded funding to build a new special school, and most of these were expected to open by September 2026.
However, insiders say the procurement process is already very delayed, and they are doubtful that schools will open on time.
The local authorities submitted a list of possible multi-academy trusts to sponsor these schools last September and were told to expect a decision the following month. But the DfE still has not published a list of approved trusts, so in most cases no design or planning could start.
Education secretary Gillian Keegan admitted on Friday that the government “haven’t built enough special educational needs places or schools”. Speaking at the annual conference of the Association of School and College Leaders, she admitted that councils were “under pressure because families can’t get the support they need”.
A senior education consultant who has been working closely with one of the local authorities on that DfE list from last year said: “It’s an absolute mess. [Getting a school ready by] September 2026 is now looking like a real push.”
The consultant said that although there was a shortage of special needs school places across the country, the 33 areas had been chosen because they have “a particularly serious, pressing need”. He added: “Waiting for this announcement delays any formal design and construction process. We’ve got contractors asking if they should submit a tender for the school but we have to tell them nothing can happen yet. It’s ridiculous.”
Many of the special schools announced last year will focus on autism, an area of increasing need. Tens of thousands of children are now waiting months or years for help, with referrals for autism assessment rocketing over 300% since Covid, according to a report last month by the Centre for Young Lives and the Child of the North campaign.
Anne Longfield, founder of the Centre for Young Lives and a former children’s commissioner, said ministers needed to give these new autism schools “a rocket boost” to ensure they were built fast: “Every day these young people don’t have an environment in school that is supporting them to flourish is a day their life chances could diminish.”
Sarah Woosey, head of education at law firm Simpson Millar, said: “We are seeing a growing number of disputes where everyone involved agrees that a child needs a special school place but there isn’t one available.
“Teenagers are struggling most. But even at reception age, we are seeing non-verbal children whom everyone agrees need to be in a special school being offered only a mainstream place, which is setting them up for failure.”
Rob Gasson, chief executive of Wave multi-academy trust, which runs special and alternative provision schools in the south-west, said: “I have worked in these sectors for 30 years, and right now demand is off the scale.”
He said he saw children and parents in special schools who had “battled their way through a very adversarial system to secure the support they need and been marked by that battle”. But he added: “I also see many children who have been excluded from mainstream schools with exactly the same needs, but without the support networks to fight the system.”
There is also a cost to such delays. When there are not enough state-run special schools, councils have to pay for a child to go to a privately run special school, which can costs tens of thousands of pounds a year.
Tim Warneford, an academy funding consultant, said: “Schools of all stripes, including special schools and those with Raac, are experiencing a pattern of the DfE not meeting deadlines on building. It is causing no end of anxiety.”
A DfE spokesperson said: “We have never set a September 2026 target to complete these particular special free schools. We are opening more special free schools than ever before and have opened a total of 108 since 2010. With the additional 15 schools confirmed at the budget, we have committed to opening a further 92 in the future.”
