Story perspectives

NHS Cuts Threaten SEND Reforms; £1.8bn Therapist Boost

7/14/2026

Summary

Story summary

An Institute for Government report warns NHS redundancies could derail SEND reforms.
It finds cuts of 18,000 NHS admin and managerial posts have hit SEND teams disproportionately.
The report calls for a cross-government working group and local health commissioning to improve SEND coordination.
The Department for Education is allocating £1.8 billion to an “experts at hand” programme to recruit speech-language and occupational therapists, after EHCPs rose to 638,700, a 10.8 percent increase.

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Story summary

An Institute for Government report warns NHS redundancies could derail SEND reforms.
It finds cuts of 18,000 NHS admin and managerial posts have hit SEND teams disproportionately.
The report calls for a cross-government working group and local health commissioning to improve SEND coordination.
The Department for Education is allocating £1.8 billion to an “experts at hand” programme to recruit speech-language and occupational therapists, after EHCPs rose to 638,700, a 10.8 percent increase.