Kent County Council SEND Crisis: Private School Placements Surge 28%

The cost to Kent County Council (KCC) of placing children with Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCPs) in private schools has surged dramatically. New figures show a 28% increase in private placements in just one year—driven by a 25% rise in pupil numbers. This surge was not disclosed in recent Scrutiny Committee discussions, where the Council cited only outdated 2023–24 data, effectively masking the growing scale of the crisis.

This sharp rise directly contradicts the conditions of Kent’s 2023 Safety Valve Agreement with the Department for Education (DfE). The agreement, triggered by a failed Ofsted inspection in 2019 and a damning follow-up in 2022, requires Kent to radically reform its Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) provision. In return, the government pledged £142 million to help erase a projected £147 million SEND deficit over six years.

However, costs have instead ballooned—particularly in private sector placements. The largest area of overspend is the Council’s use of private schools for children with EHCPs, with annual costs more than quadrupling since 2020.

Private Special School Costs for Pupils with EHCPs

Nearly one in three EHCP pupils in special schools are now in private provision. This trend continues despite government expectations for local authorities to reduce dependency on the independent sector and reinvest in state services.

KCC’s latest Commissioning Plan for Education Provision in Kent (2025-29) acknowledges these pressures. While the plan includes data on EHCP distributions, it reveals delays in delivering promised alternatives. Two new special schools scheduled for 2026 will now not open until at least 2028. Meanwhile, the plan confirms that private placements remain the fallback “where we are unable to provide a specialist placement in a Kent maintained school.”

Most Expensive Private Special Schools (2024–25, 5+ pupils)

A small number of placements exceed £200,000 per pupil annually. These include St Elizabeth’s School in Hertfordshire (£385,888) and Cambian Whinfell in Cumbria (£352,216).

Largest Numbers of Pupils in Private Special Schools (Kent EHCP-funded)

                                                         SEND Tribunal appeals have surged. In 2024, over 430 appeals were registered, with more than 50 cases upheld. Since 2022, KCC has stopped using external lawyers, opting for in-house lay representatives—resulting in zero recorded legal spend, but a growing backlog of unresolved cases and parental disputes.

                                                                           As part of the Safety Valve Agreement, KCC committed to opening three new special schools to reduce private dependency. Only one—Nore Academy on Sheppey—has opened. The others are years behind schedule:

• Leigh Academy Birchwood (Swanley, 250 pupils) is delayed until at least 2028.

• A planned Whitstable school for 120 PSCN pupils remains stalled, with no confirmed site.

KCC’s own documents show the scale of reliance on private providers is worsening, not improving. Meanwhile, Ofsted-registered private special schools continue to expand across Kent—some actively marketing to parents as alternatives to state provision.

Urgent Questions for Kent’s New Leadership

The latest SEN Update to the Scrutiny Committee does not mince words:

“There is a constant stream of expensive, independent special schools being agreed by the DfE that then go on to aggressively market their offer to parents and create a demand.”

This is no longer just a budgetary inconvenience—it is a structural breakdown in the Council’s ability to govern SEND policy. The report claims 1,800 pupils are now placed in the independent sector at a cost exceeding £80 million. But that figure is already outdated. New data for 2024–25 shows the true cost has soared to over £107 million, with private placements rising year-on-year and now comprising nearly a third of all EHCP pupils in special schools.

At the 16 July Scrutiny Committee meeting, Cabinet Member for Education Beverley Fordham (Reform UK) – pictured – issued a damning assessment of the previous Conservative administration’s SEND legacy. But criticism alone is no substitute for control. The present leadership now owns this crisis—and must answer for it.

This is no longer a matter of delayed policy reviews or missed delivery dates. The Safety Valve Agreement—once hailed as a rescue plan—is now openly breached. SEND tribunals are climbing, legal credibility is fraying, and mainstream schools are under strain. Meanwhile, new special schools remain stuck on drawing boards as millions are diverted to private sector providers with little scrutiny and no public transparency.

The public, the government, and—most importantly—Kent’s children and families deserve better.

If this trajectory continues, Kent County Council will not simply fail to meet its financial obligations under the Safety Valve Agreement—it will lose its moral and political authority to lead on SEND provision at all.

There is still time to act—but not much. What happens in the next 12 months will define the future of SEND in Kent for a generation. Either the new administration delivers on its duty to children with special needs—or it will be remembered as the one that broke the system beyond repair.

With Thanks to Peter Read.

The Shepway Vox Team

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