The explosion in pupils needing special educational support — now over 1.7 million in England—is a clear warning that our mainstream school system is failing to cope.

This isn't just an Special Educational Needs (SEN) issue; it's a mainstream crisis. The current model, with its spiralling costs and inconsistent outcomes, is financially unsustainable and fails to deliver for the majority of students.

The priority must be to create a high-quality, inclusive mainstream education that works for everyone, rather than funnelling ever-increasing funds into a system that is clearly broken and lessening the amount to spent on the many.