Thousands of pupils with special educational needs (SEN) are having to travel to attend schools outside their local authority area because of a lack of suitable provision close to home.
Statistics released in response to a parliamentary question show that 6,867 children with an SEN statement attended a mainstream school outside their council's boundaries in the past year. This is more than five per cent of SEN pupils in mainstream schools.
In the same period, 9,645 pupils with statements attended special schools not in their area. This equates to more than 10 per cent of children at special schools.
Reacting to the findings, Brian Lamb, chair of the Special Educational Consortium, urged councils to put more resources into local SEN provision.
"It shouldn't be the case that children are routinely sent out of their local area. We want to see local authorities providing more for SEN children in-house," he said.
Lamb, who is leading a government inquiry into SEN, added that parents often campaign to get their child sent to a school outside of a council's borders, purely because the provision is more suitable elsewhere.
Sasha Daly, senior policy and parliamentary manager at autism charity TreeHouse, said local provision is best for children and families who can be traumatised by having to travel long distances to access support.
But she warned councils not to cut back on out of authority placements beyond their boundaries without improving local services for SEN children first.
"We would be concerned about a cut to out-of-authority placements without demonstration that the local provision will offer the same level of education. Children need access to specialist support, yet this access can vary radically from authority to authority," she said.
Jane McConnell, chief executive of the charity Independent Parental Special Educational Advice, called on councils to do more to map the needs of children against local provision.
"The majority of SEN pupils can be successfully included in local schools, it's just down to getting a shift in attitudes," she said.
The Lamb Inquiry was established as part of the government's response to a report that uncovered serious flaws in the SEN system. It will report before Christmas and will consider how to improve confidence in the SEN assessment process.
