ectors now make decisions over opening and closing schools in an area, and academies can set their own admissions policies. Local authorities have been unable to build new schools for some years despite having a statutory responsibility to ensure there are sufficient school places. In many areas, this has resulted in larger home-to-school transport costs, as well as increased reliance on independent specialist schools. Between 2015–16 and 2023–24, while placements in state-funded special schools increased by 60%, those in the independent and non-maintained sector have risen by 132% (Isos, 2024). When children are no longer educated in mainstream schools, money flows away from state-funded schools. There has been a 56% rise in children leaving state-run provision for privately run provision paid for by the state between 2018–19 and 2023–24 (Gill et al., 2024). Many children who attend a residential school will stay there until they are 18, which adds further pressure to local authority budgets. Increases in the number of children being transported long distances and across local authority borders to education settings result in very significant increases in demand for transport, up by 23.3% in 2023–24 compared with the previous year and by 137% since 30 2016–17 (LGIU, 2024). Home-to-school transport costs for children with SEND have surged in line with the rise in EHCPs plus inflation. One large rural authority reported spending more on taxis to transport children to and from school than on social workers. The last two annual reports of the Office of Schools Adjudicator (2023 and 2024) refer to the tensions that exist between Ofsted judgements made of schools on the basis of pupils’ attainment and the level of inclusion. All local authorities have a ‘Fair Access Protocol