UNIONS today raised concerns over £200 million government funding to give all teachers training in supporting special educational needs and disabilities (Send) over the course of this Parliament.

Teachers’ union NASUWT said the Send crisis cannot be fixed “on the cheap” while the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL) warned the investment is “too important to be a one-off block of training.”

Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson said: “This is a key part of our mission to reform the Send system so that schools can take children from forgotten to included and give parents the confidence that the right support will be there at every stage of their child’s education.”

NASUWT general secretary Matt Wrack warned the investment is “barely a drop in the bucket of the funding necessary to make sustained and significant change” and overworked teachers will struggle with increased Send responsibilities.

“Schools are a pivotal part of the Send system, but they are not the whole system — they exist within a wider landscape including health and social care, local authorities, and specialist services,” he said.

There will also be a new expectation set that all staff in every school, college and nursery should receive training on Send, the Department for Education (DfE) said.

ASCL general secretary Pepe Di’Iasio said that whether the investment is sufficient “remains to be seen” warning the expectation “is a huge undertaking and it will clearly take time to deliver in practice.”

NAHT school leaders’ union Paul Whiteman warned “training alone will not be enough.

“It is vital that the government rebuilds the support services that have been decimated under previous administrations.

“Both mainstream and special schools need better access to specialist staff and sufficient funding.”

The education system must become “more inclusive” as part of reforming the Send system, the Local Government Association (LGA) said.

The LGA’s children, young people and families committee chairwoman, Cllr Amanda Hopgood, said: “For this to happen we need a workforce that has the capacity and right skills, and this investment will help to support that.”

The government is expected to set out its Send reforms in the spring in the delayed schools white paper.