Natalie Kenneison, Chief Operating Officer from Imosphere argues that the real SEND funding crisis isn’t just about budgets - it’s about the systems behind the decisions, and why smarter tools and consistent frameworks are essential to fixing them.

Across England, two children with near-identical needs can receive vastly different levels of funding - sometimes with a difference of over £37,000 between them. This is not simply a question of finance. It is a sign of a system that lacks consistency, transparency, and sustainability.

Local authorities are under intense pressure. Demand for Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCPs) continues to rise year on year, specialist placements are stretched, and council SEND budgets are now tipping into the billions in deficit. But perhaps the most damaging pressure point is the one that gets the least attention: the inconsistency in how support is assessed and funded.

Inconsistency is not a glitch - it’s a structural problem

Recent analysis by Imosphere has found that support packages for children with comparable levels of need can vary by up to 311%. That variation has real-world consequences. It leads to unpredictable budgeting, mounting disputes, and delays that not only affect children and families but place considerable strain on the councils funding their support.

Estimates suggest these inefficiencies could be contributing to around £1.79 billion nationally in preventable costs each year . For councils already grappling with the looming end of the statutory override and rising financial exposure, the situation is untenable.

And yet, these outcomes are not inevitable. They are the product of legacy systems, subjective decision-making models, and a lack of national standardisation. The tools exist to address them.

The shift from subjective models to structured support

Too often, funding decisions are made using outdated frameworks - relying on estimates of teaching hours, open-ended discussions at panel, or interpretations of highly variable reports. These approaches not only fail to keep up with growing demand, they also erode trust.

What’s needed is a way to bring clarity and consistency to how SEND support is planned, assessed and allocated. Some councils are already making that shift. By adopting structured, needs-based approaches to profiling and funding - supported by digital tools and AI-powered insight - they are creating funding models that are both fairer and more efficient.

These systems allow for greater consistency across schools and teams, more robust forecasting, and clearer communication with parents and carers. Early results from these approaches show significant reductions in panel time, improved EHCP timeliness, and increased alignment between planned and actual allocations. Perhaps most importantly, they are helping to ensure that the right children receive the right level of support at the right time.

Why standardisation is not the enemy of flexibility

Some might argue that greater standardisation risks losing the nuance needed for personalised support. But in reality, consistency in assessment and funding provides a stronger foundation for professional judgment. It offers practitioners a shared language and evidence base to work from - one that still allows for individual circumstances to be considered.

Building on this, a number of local authorities we’ve worked with are now exploring how technology and automation can further strengthen that foundation. Rather than replacing human decisions, tools like AI are being used to enhance professional capacity - freeing up time and reducing the cognitive load of navigating complex EHCP documentation.

In practice, these AI-supported tools can summarise key content from plans, flag inconsistencies or missing information, and generate structured, evidence-based rationales to support clearer and more consistent funding decisions.

In this way, standardisation and AI work hand in hand: one provides consistency, the other the capacity, together supporting more confident, efficient, and equitable decision-making.

Rebuilding trust, reducing risk

At a time when public confidence in SEND provision is fragile and the financial risk is rising, consistency must become a national priority. Councils that lead the way in rethinking their SEND systems - using data, structured tools, and collaborative practice - will be better placed to manage demand, protect services, and deliver better outcomes for the children they support.

If the £6bn high needs deficit is a symptom, the solution lies in more than emergency funding. It lies in better systems.