A total of £1 billion of funding for special educational needs has been announced by the chancellor in yesterday’s budget.

The Labour government’s first budget in 14 years saw a £2.3 billion rise in the core budget for schools, which around half of which will be entirely dedicated to SEN.

This is a six per cent increase in real terms and will be allocated to councils to use at their discretion.

Peter Swallow, MP for Bracknell, said he was ‘personally thrilled’ to see the increase in funding for SEN, which he described as ‘a source of real frustration for local parents’.

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The treasury predicts that ‘it is very likely that they will use the funding to reduce their in-year deficit’.

Between 2025-2026, it could clear up to £865 million from SEN deficits.

It comes as Bracknell Forest Council is set to overspend by £8.5 million on SEN this financial year.

Nearly 150 parents have recently written to the council saying they are ‘deeply dissatisfied’ with improvements made to provisions.

An investigation by the News found that 14 complaints had been made against the authority to the Local Government Ombudsman, leading to more than £20,000 being paid out to parents in remedies.

He has described the current system as a ‘lose, lose, lose’ situation for all parties involved.

It comes as the National Audit Office warned that the current SEN system is under significant strain, with an 140 per cent increase in the number of Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCPs) issued over recent years.

READ MORE: New SEN facility plans at Edgebarrow school in Crowthorne 

Nationally, only half of EHCPs are complete within the statutory time frame of 20 weeks.

During her speech, Chancellor Rachel Reeves said: “This government is committed to reforming special educational needs provision to improve outcomes for our most vulnerable children and to ensure that the system is financially sustainable.”

Councils across England have hit record heights of SEN spending this year, at £10 billion.

Across education, the Chancellor confirmed funding for free school breakfast clubs would be tripled.

READ MORE: Bracknell Forest Council fined £3.5k over SEN failures 

Mr Swallow further welcomed £44 million for Kinship carers allowance, raising the minimum wage and maintaining the fuel duty freeze.

More contentious parts of the budget included raising National Insurance contributions paid by businesses and raising inheritance tax.

Former Conservative MP for Bracknell James Sunderland called the budget 'disastrous'.

Mr Swallow, the first ever Labour MP for Bracknell, said the budget was a ‘vision which will transform conditions for people and businesses of Bracknell’.