“It is totally unacceptable that top private SEND providers are lining their pockets exploiting a SEND system in crisis”
16:00, 04 Aug 2025Updated 17:10, 04 Aug 2025
The former St Pius X Roman Catholic primary school in Withywood, pictured in 2020. It is now reopening in September 2025 as Manor Wood, a special needs school run by Acorn Education(Image: Bristol Post)
A company opening two new special needs schools in Bristol this September has been criticised by councillors for ‘profiteering’ and ‘exploiting’ the city’s crisis in special needs education. Liberal Democrat councillors have called for a cap on the profits of companies that run SEND schools, as part of a national campaign.
Bristol has a shortage of school places for children with special educational needs or disabilities, and the council faces a £63 million hole in its school budget, which the Lib Dems say is largely down to the increasing costs and growing demand for SEND provision. With fewer places than children who need them in Bristol, the council is also spending a fortune on sending children with special needs out of the city to go to school.
Two new schools will open in September to increase the SEND capacity in Bristol. Manor Wood School will open next month in the refurbished site of St Pius Catholic primary school in Withywood, which closed in 2021. Avonside School is a second new SEND school, and will open this September in a converted office building on an industrial estate in Brislington. Manor Wood School will take children aged between five and 16, while Avonside will be for teenagers with special needs and disabilities, aged between 13 and 19.
Both schools are being opened by a national SEND school provider called Acorn Education, which is part of the Outcomes First Group. That company is one of the main private providers of SEND education in the country, and was named by both the Lib Dems nationally and locally, at the launch of a new campaign by the party on special needs education.
The Lib Dems said Outcomes First made a profit of £7.1 million in 2024, at a time when the SEND crisis has hit local councils hard. “Council finances are being pushed to the brink, with many facing bankruptcy or having to reduce or end service provision for vulnerable groups. Bristol’s budgets too are stretched thin, with a £52m deficit that needed to be filled in this year’s budget,” a spokesperson for Bristol Lib Dems said.
“Liberal Democrats are pushing for private providers of special needs education – some of whom are backed by private equity companies based in tax havens or foreign sovereign wealth funds – to face profit caps of 8% to curb excessive profiteering off the backs of disabled children,” they added.
One local councillor in Brislington, Cllr Andrew Varney (Lib Dem, Brislington West) criticised the companies for ‘exploiting’ the crisis in the SEND system.
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“It is totally unacceptable that top private SEND providers are lining their pockets exploiting a SEND system in crisis, while children are being failed every day,” he said.
“SEND provision is a key issue for many parents across Bristol, so I am deeply concerned to see this greedy profiteering from private equity firms. It is a major driver of the crisis in our SEND system,” he added.
“The Government needs to cap the profits of these firms at 8%, to ensure that money is channelled back into the SEND system, and not into the pockets of shareholders. It’s time to put provision over profits – our young people deserve so much better,” he said.
Acorn Educatoin said its two schools in South Bristol would: “Serve families across Bristol, South Gloucestershire, Bath, Somerset, and surrounding areas, helping children and young people with Social, Emotional and Mental Health needs reach their full potential in a setting designed just for them.”
Liberal Democrat Andrew Varney was elected in Brislington West in 2021(Image: Supplied)
Acorn Education have two special needs schools in Somerset, two in Devon and two more in Cornwall. “Acorn Education is bringing its expertise and specialist support to the South West. We are thrilled to expand into this region and offer local families access to specialist schools in Bristol, ensuring children and young people receive the right support close to home,” a spokesperson added.
In response to the Lib Dem claims they are exploiting the SEND crisis, a spokesperson said: “Our new schools in Bristol will help meet the clear and growing demand for high-quality specialist provision at a time when a lack of local places means too many children with SEND are either out of education or being placed far from home – resulting in significant disruption and additional travel costs.
“We have worked closely with the Local Authority to ensure long term value so that more children can access the tailored support they need closer to home. There is an important distinction between making a profit and profiteering and as a responsible provider committed to positive social impact, we reinvest any surplus into developing new services while improving quality and increasing access – our concern is what would happen to the thousands of children if organisations like ours were not able to meet that demand,” she added.
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