The real costs of our education, health and care systems
“The SEN system is inconsistent, inequitable and not delivering in line with expectations, which inevitably undermines parents’ confidence in it.” House of Commons, Public Accounts Committee (2025)
For those not involved in caring for a child, young person, or adult with additional education, health and social care needs, it can even feel comforting or positive to hear the talk of additional school places, the potential for inclusion bases to be established at each state secondary school and like ‘there is nothing to see here’.
Overview: support is viewed as a cost but there is not enough discussion of the cost of not providing support when needed
So, what are the impacts of delayed support?
· Delays in support create substantial costs for children, families, public services and the wider economy.
· Parents frequently reduce working hours, leave employment or experience financial hardship while advocating for support.
· Disadvantaged families are more likely to need support and less likely to receive it.
· Delayed support contributes to wider economic costs through lost employment, poorer mental health and youth disengagement from education and work.
· Investing earlier could reduce both the distress caused to individuals and their families and long-term public expenditure.
What is happening now?
The House of Commons Education Committee (2025) found that
· Families feel they must fight or battle for basic support rather than being supported collaboratively.
· Parents and carers report feeling exhausted from navigating the system
· The process of securing support frequently becomes legalistic and dispute driven seemingly forgetting or not capturing the impact of delay in support for the child or young person.
· Families are pushed towards tribunals, appeals and even judicial reviews to obtain provision while over 98% of judgments are against local authorities only 2.5% of families are able to appeal judgments to not provide support showing the regressive nature of the current system.
· Many local authorities fail to meet legal duties consistently and high success rates for families in appeals reinforces this view as local authorities are often found to be in the wrong when challenged under the law.
From conflict to collaboration - MPs stressed the need to move from conflict to collaboration with parents. Importantly, the committee concluded that support should be proactive and supportive not reactive and defensive describing the system as chaotic and adversarial with outcomes depending upon how parents can navigate the system.
Why are the most disadvantaged families often the least supported?
The Sutton Trust (2025) found that
· disadvantaged children are more likely to have special needs and are less likely to get the specialist support they need
· children from poorer homes are less likely to secure an EHCP, less likely to get a special school place, and their families are less happy with the support their child has
· children with additional support needs who are eligible for free school meals suffer at least a double disadvantage with lower outcomes at age 16.
So there is an inherent unfairness in the current system.
What happens when support is delayed?
According to the Sutton Trust (2025) delays in receiving support also impact family incomes with:
· 16% of parents leaving employment to support their child,
· 16% changing their job
· 27% reducing their working hours, and
· 14% of families report going into debt to pay for resources their child needs.
Impact on family incomes and costs
On average families lose £21,174 from their income and, yet family costs may also increase significantly even with maximum supports like the Disabled Living Allowance and Child Benefit with many families paying for additional resources and therapies and having higher food costs in some cases due to the need for special diets (Contact, 2024).
It is often mothers who are most active in advocating for their children and Ofsted (2024) notes parents sharing they can feel ‘broken’ and ‘traumatised’ by their treatment in the system.
We know of parents who have stopped advocating for support and sought to manage with their own resources, even if that means having less support, because the system is so painful and distressing to navigate. This may appear to reduce the immediate cost to the government but costs to our economy come in other ways with lower household incomes and greater financial distress.
What are the economic costs of the current system?
Support is often viewed as a cost but there is far less discussion about the cost of not providing support when it is needed. The costs of the current system include:
Lost workforce participation
· £5.4 - £16.9 billion per year equivalent to 5-15% of the education budget of lost output from parents and carers reducing hours or not being able to work (Cambridge Econometrics, 2025).
Reduced financial security
· 13% reduction in pension savings for carers out of work for 6 years according to Pension Bee, (2026).
Supporting young people out of education, training and work
· £125 billion per annum – more than 100% of the education budget is estimated by Alan Milburn (DWP, 2026) due to the impact of the 1 million young people out of education, training and work cost the economy.
Mental health
· £300 billion per year (approximately) due to lost productivity, reduced quality of life and premature mortality and health and care costs due to mental health in 2022 alone (Cardoso and McHayle, 2024). We know that many adults have mental health needs that start in their teenage years. However, However, 35% of children referred to CAMHS are still waiting after 1 year (Abel et al, 2025) and young adults with mental health needs can find it even harder to access support
Our recommendations
We believe that public debate has focused heavily on the cost of providing support, while paying much less attention to the cost of delayed, fragmented or inaccessible support.
Looking at the wider economic evidence suggests that investment in inclusive education, early intervention and timely support is not simply a social good. It is also a sound economic decision.
An education system designed around flexibility, accessibility and genuine inclusion would not only improve outcomes for children and families but could also reduce many of the longer-term costs currently borne elsewhere in the economy.
Why This Matters
At Acorn to Oak Education, we regularly support families navigating education, health and social care systems. This article draws together research evidence and themes emerging from our work with children, young people, families and professionals.
References:
Abel, K.M., Whelan, P., Carter, L.A., Tranter, H., Stockton-Powdrell, C., Gutridge, K. et al. (2025) Enhancing referrals to Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services: the EN-CAMHS mixed-methods study. Health and Social Care Delivery Research, 13(21). Available at: https://doi.org/10.3310/GYDW4507 (Accessed: 14 August 2026). [amhie.com]
Cambridge Econometrics (2025) The hidden cost of unpaid care: The economic price of locking carers out of work. Cambridge Econometrics. Available at: The hidden cost of unpaid care: The economic price of locking carers out of work (Accessed: 14 August 2026). [https://ww...281%29.pdf]
Cardoso, F. and McHayle, Z. (2024) The economic and social costs of mental ill health: Review of methodology and update of calculations. London: Centre for Mental Health. Available at: The economic and social costs of mental ill health (Accessed: 14 August 2026).
Contact (2024) Counting the Costs. Contact. Available at: Counting the Costs (Accessed: 14 August 2026). [https://co...the-costs/]
Department for Work and Pensions (2026) Young people and work: Interim report. London: Department for Work and Pensions. Available at: Young people and work: Interim report (Accessed: 14 August 2026). [https://ww...rim-report]
House of Commons Education Committee (2025) Solving the SEND Crisis. London: House of Commons. Available at: Solving the SEND Crisis (Accessed: 14 August 2026). [https://pu...eport.html]
Ofsted (2024) Good decisions: Children with complex needs in children's homes. Manchester: Ofsted. Available at: Good decisions: Children with complex needs in children's homes (Accessed: 14 August 2026). [https://ww...rens-homes]
PensionBee (2023) The Carer's Pension Gap. London: PensionBee. Available at: The Carer's Pension Gap (Accessed: 14 August 2026).
Public Accounts Committee (2025) Support for children and young people with special educational needs. London: House of Commons. Available at: Support for children and young people with special educational needs (Accessed: 14 August 2026). [https://pu...eport.html]
Sutton Trust (2025) Massive inequalities in accessing SEND system revealed. Sutton Trust. Available at: Massive inequalities in accessing SEND system revealed (Accessed: 14 August 2026). [https://ww...-revealed/]