LABOUR’S welfare cuts are worsening the crisis in special educational needs and disabilities (Send), teachers warned today.

At the National Education Union (NEU) annual conference in Harrogate, ministers were blasted for ramping up defence spending while refusing to scrap the two-child benefit cap.

Camden delegate Alyson Dermody-Palmer asked: “Why are they funding arms and increased defence spending but not supporting the most vulnerable in our communities?”

Ealing’s Matija Milvanovic said: “With the government keen to keep the child benefit cap and cutting disability benefits, we are likely to see a further rise in child poverty and therefore a rise in Send need.”

The conference moved that that the Send system was “completely broken and needs systematic widespread reform.”

It said that the “delivering better value and safety valve” schemes imposed by the Tories were failing to support Send students and should be scrapped immediately.

Delegates also called on the government to write off local authority debt accrued by incurring financial deficits in their high-needs funding for Send.  

NEU general secretary Daniel Kebede said: “Send is in crisis. Send students are missing education and failing to thrive, their families are struggling against a system that no longer works and teachers and support staff are at breaking point trying to stay afloat with sticking-plaster measures.

“Much needs to change to make the inclusive system we all want.

“But the immediate priorities are to properly address the funding issues crippling schools and local authorities, accept that the solution won’t be cheap, and to invest in school staff and specialists and train them to work in inclusive schools, colleges and settings.”

The union’s latest survey of members in English state schools, published today, highlights a lack of funding, resources and external support, with 97 per cent of teachers considering workload a barrier to making schools more inclusive for Send pupils.

Nearly three in four teachers and more than half of support staff called it a “significant” barrier.

Members also complained about large class sizes and an inappropriate curriculum.

Two-thirds of all Send co-ordinators told the survey that their workload was unmanageable most or all of the time, rising to 74 per cent for those in secondary schools.