TORY plans to improve support for children with special educational needs and disabilities (Send) will not fix the system’s “dysfunctional mess,” education unions and Labour warned today.

The Department for Education announced thousands more specialist school places and an expansion in staff Send training as part of a long-awaited improvement plan. 

The proposals include commitments to build 33 new special free schools and invest £30 million to develop “innovative approaches for short respite breaks for young people and their families.”