The government has pressed pause on a major slice of England’s free school building pipeline to divert £3bn into funding 50,000 new SEND places across mainstream schools.

Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson confirmed that 28 planned mainstream free schools will be scrapped, with another 16 still under review, as ministers redirect capital spending into specialist spaces designed to keep pupils with SEND learning closer to home.

The move marks the biggest shift in school capital priorities in over a decade and hands councils far greater control over where SEND provision is built.

Local authorities will receive funding to retrofit and reconfigure existing schools, adding sensory rooms, breakout zones and specialist support areas without the long lead times of new-build projects.

Full plans to improve the SEND system will be set out through the Schools White Paper early in the new year.

The government has confirmed that applications for the next phase of projects through the mainstream school rebuilding programme will open in the new year.

It said this would see a further 250 rebuilding projects advance targetting those schools with the most severe need will be prioritised.