More than 40,000 learners at schools throughout Wales have been recognised as having additional learning needs, and pressure is mounting for money to be directed towards supporting them.
Welsh Labour representatives in Caerphilly and right across the nation have added their voices to calls for the administration to allocate part of a £340 million uplift, created as a consequential payment from Westminster’s expenditure on Special Educational Needs and Disability services in England but currently not designated for additional learning needs in Wales.
Lynne Neagle MS, Welsh Labour’s education representative, expressed concern that the Plaid Cymru administration was providing no extra assistance to these children. She noted that the additional learning needs framework was under considerable strain. She pointed out that children and young people’s requirements call for more involved, focused and sustained help. She added that the challenges present in England were equally applicable in Wales, and that school reserves lacked adequate capacity to absorb rising ongoing expenses.
Opponents maintain that Welsh learners are being disadvantaged.
Every one of Wales’s 22 local authorities, together with all teaching unions operating in the country, has pressed the administration to channel the money towards schools.
The Welsh administration has indicated that the consequential payment originated from the UK Treasury cancelling historic debts owed by English councils for additional learning needs services.
Finance Minister Elin Jones explained that these liabilities did not exist in comparable form in Wales, which meant the money was not specifically protected for additional learning needs provision.
The administration has suggested it might contemplate directing additional learning needs funding into the budget from the 2028-29 financial year onwards.
Ms Neagle stated that educational establishments and families were entitled to clarity. She declared her support for her Welsh Labour colleagues, council leaders and teaching unions in urging Plaid Cymru to make the correct choice and assign this money to children with additional learning needs.
In Newport, where 1,870 learners have been identified as having additional learning needs, MS Jayne Bryant also urged the administration to take swift action.
In Caerphilly County Borough, Labour group leader Cllr Jamie Pritchard reinforced the demands.
He stated that the Labour group on Caerphilly Council was urging the Welsh Government to allocate consequential funding from the UK Labour Government to assist children and young people with additional learning needs in Wales. He emphasised that there could be no diversion of much-needed additional learning needs provision.
The Welsh Local Government Association has cautioned that the increasing intricacy of needs was creating untenable financial pressure on councils.
They described education as one of the most serious pressures raised by councils, and observed that additional learning needs expenditure represented more than a quarter of all school budget pressures.
Cabinet Minister for Education Anna Brychan MS acknowledged the pressures but did not commit to providing immediate extra funding.
In remarks to the Senedd on June 17, she pledged to establishing a sustainable model for additional learning needs education following years of considerable pressure.
The Welsh Government unveiled its initial supplementary budget on June 23, distributing £294 million across Plaid Cymru policy priorities.
This encompassed £100 million for the NHS, £55 million for childcare, and £40 million for school maintenance, though no money was protected for additional learning needs.
The school leaders’ union NAHT described the omission as extraordinary.
They commented that the notable exclusion was any extra funding for additional learning needs provision.
A Welsh Labour opposition debate on additional learning needs funding was arranged for July 1, 2026.
The Welsh Government stated it remained dedicated to supporting children and young people with additional learning needs, and was collaborating with councils and education partners to comprehend the pressures on the system and develop a long-term solution.
It stated that decisions regarding how funding is spent in Wales are made by Welsh Ministers according to Wales’s own requirements and priorities, and that its approach to additional learning needs sustainability would be outlined later this year as part of broader budget planning.