THE SYSTEM supporting children and young people with Additional Learning Needs in Wales is facing serious pressures that could threaten its long-term sustainability, according to a new report from Audit Wales.

Published on Tuesday (Apr 7), the report examines support for children and young people with Additional Learning Needs, or ALN, in the context of changes introduced under the Additional Learning Needs and Education Tribunal (Wales) Act 2018.

Audit Wales said public bodies do not have a full understanding of demand, workforce capacity, skills, costs or outcomes, leaving them without the information needed for effective planning, budgeting and value-for-money assessments.

The report raises concerns about whether the current system is performing well enough to help learners achieve their full potential.

In 2024-25, 48,257 learners aged from nought to 25 were recorded as having ALN or Special Educational Needs. However, Audit Wales said that figure is incomplete and does not capture the full picture across all settings.

Available data shows the number of school learners recorded as having ALN or SEN fell by 58 per cent between 2018-19 and 2024-25, although the reasons for that drop are disputed. Over the same period, the number of school learners receiving statutory support through a statement of SEN, or now an Individual Development Plan, increased by 164 per cent.

The report says spending on supporting learners with ALN has also risen significantly, adding pressure to already stretched public budgets. While Audit Wales said it could not put an exact figure on total spending, identifiable annual costs are approaching £1 billion, with the true figure likely to be higher.

Councils’ budgeted expenditure on ALN or SEN rose by 34 per cent in real terms between 2018-19 and 2025-26.

Audit Wales said its conclusions were based on evidence showing that the system lacks good enough data to understand growing demand and complexity, while patchy workforce information makes it harder to assess staffing capacity and skills gaps. It also found that public bodies do not have a strong enough understanding of costs, raising concerns about financial sustainability.

The report adds that although the goals of the ALN system are clear, there is only limited evidence on whether it is delivering strong outcomes for learners, and that the system remains adversarial despite some signs of improvement.

Its recommendations are aimed mainly at the Welsh Government, particularly in its national leadership role, although Audit Wales said successful implementation would require action from a wide range of public bodies.

Auditor General Adrian Crompton said: “Children and young people with Additional Learning Needs include some of the most vulnerable people in society.

“There has been a significant amount of work involved in efforts to reform the system for the better over recent years. However, the system remains under strain and there is still a lot more that can be done to ensure it does as well as it can for our children and young people, both now and for future generations.”

The 2018 Act introduced a new system designed to create a more integrated, collaborative and person-centred approach to supporting learners with ALN. It extended statutory provision to learners aged nought to 25 and replaced the previous separate systems for under-16s with SEN and post-16 learners with learning difficulties or disabilities.

A major part of the reform was the introduction of Individual Development Plans, which replaced both non-statutory SEN support and statutory statements of SEN. Under the new system, every learner with ALN is entitled to an IDP.

Audit Wales stressed that the figure of 48,257 learners does not include all settings for learners aged nought to 25, including further education, meaning the overall scale of need may be higher than official data suggests.

For more information, contact Rhian Jones at Audit Wales on 02920 320 575 or by email at [email protected]
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FOOD hygiene checks have not been carried out in parts of a Welsh county since 2019 due an inspection backlog, a council has admitted.

Carmarthenshire council said its struggle to recruit food safety officers means hygiene inspections are currently overdue at three high-risk food premises in the county, with hundreds more lower risk food sellers also behind on checks.

Councillor Colin Evans told a scrutiny committee meeting he felt the situation was “quite serious”, adding: “Should something go wrong, it could go wrong very quickly.”

The Food Standards Agency (FSA) said councils were making progress on checks despite increased workloads and a UK-wide need to train more inspectors.

The council was told last month it probably would not meet its hygiene checks and interventions for high-risk food businesses.

Despite offering £60 to £70 per hour to recruit qualified staff through agencies, the council said recruitment remained difficult.

Ian Jones, the council’s head of leisure and public protection, said despite a lot of professionalism and expertise within the service it was “highly unlikely” the end-of-year targets would be met.

Councillors were told other authorities were in a similar position and the committee referred the matter to cabinet for consideration.

No checks for seven years

Food premises are checked based on risk categories ranging from A to E, with A, B and C considered high risk due to food handling.

The council said there were three highest-risk category A premises with overdue hygiene inspections in the county – two of them within a 28-day overdue period, and the third subject to an “ongoing presence from inspectors” since the previous intervention.

There were also two category B premises and 228 category C premises with overdue inspections, and 467 overdue hygiene inspections for category D and E establishments.

The council said inspection frequencies depended on the risk category but varied between “at least every six months to at least every 36 months”.

But a council website showing food ratings suggests no food hygiene inspections have been done at some premises in the north of the county in seven years.

The council said inspectors carried out other work, such as food standards and hygiene visits.

It said the average backlog was 16 months for category C premises, 35 months for category D and 38 months for category E.

And it said 405 of the 467 category D and E premises with an overdue inspection were eligible to do a self-assessment questionnaire.

The council said it had a statutory duty to enforce food law “as effectively as possible, using means that are most appropriate to the circumstances”.

The hospitality trade body UK Hospitality said despite pressure on the sector in recent years, “the safety of our customers remains non-negotiable and food hygiene is a major focus for businesses – alongside work on allergens and food crime”.

The FSA’s head of delivery Sarah Aza said last month the agency was liaising with governments and others to increase the inspection workforce.

She said councils were making good progress on food safety and standards checks but a rise in new businesses was increasing the workload.

“If a local authority is concerned about meeting its legal inspection duties, we ask them to get in touch with us early,” she said.

Report by Richard Youle, Local Democracy Reporting Service

Households and businesses could benefit from cheaper, low-carbon heating under expanded UK Government scheme

HOUSEHOLDS and businesses in Wales are set to gain access to new funding for low-carbon heat networks, in a move ministers say will help cut bills, reduce reliance on fossil fuels and support clean energy jobs.

The UK Government announced on Monday (Apr 7) that the Green Heat Network Fund is being extended to Wales. The scheme, which already supports projects in England, will now back Welsh developments aimed at providing lower-cost heating through cleaner, centralised energy systems.

Ministers said the expansion would help protect consumers from volatile fossil fuel prices, while supporting the wider push for clean, homegrown energy.

The fund forms part of a wider programme expected to invest £195m a year in heat network projects across England and Wales for the rest of the decade.

Heat networks provide heating and hot water to multiple buildings from a central source. These systems can use low-carbon sources such as heat pumps, surplus heat from factories and data centres, or even energy recovered from sewage systems.

The UK Government said the move could create hundreds of jobs in Wales, with opportunities for engineers, architects and construction workers as the sector grows.

Energy Consumers Minister Martin McCluskey said: “We are determined to fight people’s corner in this crisis, as we recognise cost-of-living concerns will be at the forefront of people’s minds.

“Welsh households and businesses will be able to benefit from low-cost, low-carbon heat networks, protecting them from volatile fossil fuel prices we don’t control.”

Secretary of State for Wales Jo Stevens said: “The expansion of UK Government funding of low-cost heat networks to Wales is good news for billpayers and is just one of a range of measures we are taking to tackle the cost of living.

“We are lowering energy bills by up to £117 for households as well as reducing our reliance on imported fossil fuel to bring down bills and put more money into people’s pockets.

“Wales will also benefit from the new jobs that will be created in our growing green energy sector.”

Welsh Government Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Energy and Planning Rebecca Evans also welcomed the announcement.

She said: “As recent events have shown, it is vital that we reduce our reliance on fossil fuels and find new ways to heat our homes and buildings in a way which supports energy security and resilience.

“I’m pleased that organisations in Wales will be able to access this funding to support the development of heat networks, ultimately benefiting from lower heating bills.”

According to the government, there are already more than 500,000 heat network customers across Britain.

The announcement also follows recent changes to consumer protection rules. Earlier this year, Ofgem became the regulator for heat networks, bringing customers in England, Scotland and Wales more into line with those on traditional gas and electricity supplies.

Under the new arrangements, Ofgem can intervene where operators raise prices unfairly or provide poor service. Customers affected by outages may also be entitled to compensation through the Energy Ombudsman.

Aaron Gould, interim chief executive of ADE: Heat Networks, said Wales had strong potential for growth in the sector.

He said: “There is enormous potential for heat networks to grow in Wales, bringing low-cost, low-carbon heat, and jobs.

“Excellent work has been done by the Welsh Government to map priority areas, and align network plans with local ambitions. The government and sector in Wales is ready for massive growth, and extending GHNF to support these communities is a key step to a cleaner future.”

One example already backed in England is a £15m heat network in Sunderland, which will recover energy from a data centre to heat buildings across the city and is expected to create almost 300 jobs and apprenticeships.