CCN said demand for SEND services meant children's needs were not being met and leaders were 'not failing of our own volition'.

Council leaders across the country are ‘failing' to ensure that the needs of young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) are met, the County Councils' Network (CCN) has admitted.

CCN said demand for SEND services meant children's needs were not being met and leaders were 'not failing of our own volition'.

It comes as research showed the in-year deficit councils were accruing every year was likely to reach £4.4bn in 2029 if nothing changed – a cumulative SEND deficit of £18bn.

Writing for our sister title, The MJ, CCN's SEND spokesperson Bill Revans said educational outcomes for young people with SEND had not improved in a decade and families were ‘waiting longer than ever to get their child assessed' as councils ‘struggle' to recruit the numbers of staff needed.

He wrote: ‘Council leaders across the country are determined to ensure that young people's needs are met, but the brutal truth is that we are failing.

‘We're not failing of our own volition (though, of course, we cannot pretend we get everything right) but because we face a level of demand the system was never designed to cope with.'