A review of Welsh Government statistics for benchmarking the Additional Learning Needs and Education Tribunal Act 2018

The Additional Learning Needs and Education Tribunal (Wales) Act (ALNET) 2018 makes provision for a new statutory system for meeting additional learning needs (ALN) from 0 to 25 years. The Act has a transitional implementation phase from 2021 until 2025. Individual Development Plans (IDPs) will replace statements of special educational needs (SEN) and are available to a much wider population of learners. This research aim is to provide a quantitative baseline for benchmarking of the new ALN procedures at a future date. Official statistics from the Welsh Government (2010–23), have been used for the prevalence of ALN, for levels of funding and for appeals to Education Tribunal Wales. The 22 Local Authorities (LAs) have been grouped into three comparable clusters for analysis, using the Welsh Index of Multiple Deprivation. The findings indicate significant differences, in particular a disparity in budgeted expenditure on SEN provision of £25 million, although presently there is a level of sustainability not experienced in other UK nations. The on-going challenge for the Welsh Government and local government over the next 25 years is to scrutinise, maintain sustainability and regularly review the implementation of the new ALN legislation, to ensure fairness and consistency throughout policy and practice.