LABOUR CANNOT WASH THEIR HANDS OF CAMBRIDGESHIRE’S SEND CRISIS, SAY LIBERAL DEMOCRATS

Liberal Democrats on Cambridgeshire County Council have responded to a Labour motion on Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND), accusing Labour of trying to rewrite history on a service they oversaw until last year, while their own Government continues to hold Cambridgeshire’s children back.

Liberal Democrats are clear that SEND in Cambridgeshire is not where it needs to be. Too many families are waiting too long for Education, Health and Care Plans, and schools are under real pressure. Since taking control of the council in May 2025, the Liberal Democrats have made turning SEND around a priority, because every child deserves the right support at the right time.

However, Labour’s motion ignores their own record. From 2021 until May 2025 Labour chaired the council’s Children and Young People Committee which is responsible for SEND. The motion’s own figures show that 94.9% of plans were issued late in 2023/24 and 91.4% in 2024/25, both years on Labour’s watch. Labour cannot criticise problems they were responsible for and then wash their hands of them.

Nationally, the Labour Government has made things harder, not easier. Two new special schools in Gamlingay and March, agreed before the last general election and due to provide 270 desperately needed places, were thrown into doubt when the Government changed its building programme. Last December the Department for Education asked the council to consider dropping them altogether in exchange for a funding settlement. Only after the Lib Dems pushed back did ministers confirm in March this year that the schools would go ahead, with opening now not expected until 2028.

Underneath it all is a funding system that has short-changed Cambridgeshire for decades. Cambridgeshire is consistently underfunded by the government, sitting in the bottom 20% nationally for per pupil secondary funding and in the bottom quarter for high needs funding per pupil for over a decade. Since 2017, demand for EHCPs in the county has risen by 91% while high needs funding has risen by just 72%. If Cambridgeshire schools were funded at the same level as Lincolnshire, the authority Labour’s own motion holds up as a model, they would receive an extra £23.8 million every year.

More than two years into government, Labour has not fixed this. Instead it has frozen high needs funding for 2026/27 at last year’s levels with no uplift. Cambridgeshire is one of the fastest growing counties in England, more children are arriving in Cambridgeshire every year, and the money is not following them.

Cllr Edna Murphy (Liberal Democrat, Bar Hill), Chair of the Children and Young People Committee, said:

“We are honest that SEND in Cambridgeshire is not good enough, and families have every right to be frustrated. That is exactly why we have made it a priority since May 2025, and why we are working every day to bring waiting times down and get support to children sooner. 

“What we will not accept is Labour lecturing us on a service they oversaw for four years, while their own Government delays our special schools, holds back funding and leaves Cambridgeshire near the bottom of the national funding tables. If Labour councillors really want to help children with SEND, they should pick up the phone to their ministers and demand a fair deal for Cambridgeshire.”