School leaders from across England, Wales and Northern Ireland gathered at school leaders’ union NAHT’s Annual Conference in Belfast, will today hear a motion from Welsh delegates calling for the £555 million in consequential funding that Wales will receive over the next three years, driven by increased in SEND funding in England, to be allocated directly to education spending in Wales, in order to tackle the ALN crisis in Welsh schools.
Laura Doel, national secretary of school leaders’ union NAHT Cymru, said: “It has now been confirmed in recent days that Wales will receive a further £555 million in consequential funding over the next three years, driven in part by major increases in SEND spending in England – funding generated by pressures Welsh schools are already experiencing daily. However, there remains no clarity on how much of this funding will be directed to education, or whether any of it will reach schools to support ALN provision, reinforcing concerns that children with additional learning needs are once again being treated as an afterthought.
“The failure to fund ALN properly is directly harming children. Support is delayed or withheld, specialist provision is cut back, staff are pushed beyond safe and appropriate limits, and learners’ legal entitlements are routinely denied. School leaders are forced into morally indefensible decisions: rationing support, asking staff to work outside their expertise, and explaining to families why their child cannot get the help they need.
“As voters head to the polls in Wales in just five days’ time, we are calling for the next Welsh Government, to be elected next week, to make a clear, transparent and public commitment setting out how much education consequential funding will be allocated to education and ensuring it is directed into tackling the ALN crisis in schools, ending the pretence of cost‑neutral reform and finally delivering the support, safety and dignity that children with additional learning needs deserve.”
The motion will be debated and voted on at around 11.30 this morning. Conference can be viewed via livestream at https://www.14dd5266c70789bdc806364df4586335-gdprlock/watch?v=zoJnCj_P2B4.
In full the motion reads:
NAHT Cymru has been sounding the alarm on the Additional Learning Needs (ALN) crisis for years, long before the Welsh Government pushed through so‑called “cost‑neutral” changes to the ALNET Act that transferred unfunded statutory duties directly onto schools. Throughout that period, school leaders have warned that the system was heading towards failure without sustained and meaningful investment.
During the 2026/27 budget process, the outgoing Welsh Government failed to invest education consequential funding into schools. Instead, it offered limited uplifts to local authorities that did nothing to ease pressures at school level, leaving headteachers to manage impossible budgets while demand for ALN support continued to rise.
It has now been confirmed in recent days that Wales will receive a further £555 million in consequential funding over the next three years, driven in part by major increases in SEND spending in England—funding generated by pressures Welsh schools are already experiencing daily. However, there remains no clarity on how much of this funding will be directed to education, or whether any of it will reach schools to support ALN provision, reinforcing concerns that children with additional learning needs are once again being treated as an afterthought.
The failure to fund ALN properly is directly harming children. Support is delayed or withheld, specialist provision is cut back, staff are pushed beyond safe and appropriate limits, and learners’ legal entitlements are routinely denied. School leaders are forced into morally indefensible decisions: rationing support, asking staff to work outside their expertise, and explaining to families why their child cannot get the help they need.
As voters head to the polls in Wales in just five days’ time, NAHT Cymru calls on Conference to demand that the next Welsh Government, to be elected next week, makes a clear, transparent and public commitment setting out how much education consequential funding will be allocated to education and ensuring it is directed into tackling the ALN crisis in schools, ending the pretence of cost‑neutral reform and finally delivering the support, safety and dignity that children with additional learning needs deserve.
