Petition backed by 11,400 people asks Wales to spend all £550m of new funding on additional learning needs

More than 11,400 people have signed a petition asking the Welsh Government to spend all of a £550 million funding boost on additional learning needs (ALN) in schools, Wrexham.com reports. Members of the Senedd debated it on Wednesday 4 November.

ALN is the Welsh term for what England calls SEND (special educational needs and disabilities). It’s the system that decides what extra help a pupil gets at school, and many neurodivergent children and young people are part of it. How much money goes into ALN affects how much support they can actually get in the classroom.

Where the money comes from

The UK Government has put more money into ALN in England. Under the Barnett Formula, which sets how much funding Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland get when spending changes in England, Wales will receive an extra £550m over three years. That includes £322m in this financial year.

The Barnett Formula doesn’t make the Welsh Government spend this money the way England does. Ministers in Cardiff can choose how to use it. The petition accepts this but still asks for the full £550m to go to ALN in Wales. It was submitted by a casework support officer at NAHT Cymru, the head teachers’ union. It warns that the pressures on ALN provision “do not stop at the border”.

What has been agreed so far

The Welsh Government’s supplementary budget, which updates spending plans partway through the year, was passed in the same week as the debate. It includes an extra £60m for ALN this financial year. That is much less than the petition asked for.

What was said in the debate

Jason O’Connell chairs the Senedd’s Petitions Committee. He said the committee recognised people’s concerns about ALN provision and funding. But he also said ringfencing (reserving) the money only for ALN could undermine devolution, because it would limit what the Welsh Government can decide. He asked the education minister to set out the government’s position on ALN funding and how it is shared out.

Helen Jenner, Reform’s Welsh leader and a former teacher, called the decision not to give all the money to ALN a “political choice”. She also criticised how the £60m will be shared between schools and called for a review.

Labour’s Lynne Neagle, a former education secretary, called the £60m a “significant cash injection” that would make a “real difference”. She also pointed out that the supplementary budget brought forward in the summer first had no extra money for ALN at all. She asked when schools would get the funding. She also said ALN support needed a long-term plan and steady investment.

Education minister Anna Brychan of Plaid Cymru called the £60m a “substantial investment”. But she warned that money alone would not solve the problems schools face. She said:

“We’re determined to respond to the pressures facing the system today, while also creating an education system that is truly inclusive, sustainable and fit for the future.”

What happens next

Mr O’Connell said the committee would think about the debate and decide its next steps. The Petitions Committee can press the Welsh Government to act or raise the petition with another Senedd committee. It can also run a full inquiry and publish a report.

For families of neurodivergent pupils in Wales, two questions are still open: when the £60m will reach schools, and whether any more of the £550m will go to ALN in the next two years.

This piece summarises reporting by Wrexham.com. Read the original article for the full story.