Nearly 70 English councils say they face insolvency over special needs education debt
Plea illustrates dilemma facing government as it attempts to overhaul increasingly expensive system
Plea illustrates dilemma facing government as it attempts to overhaul increasingly expensive system

Broadened criteria are benefiting the better-off, harming those facing greatest difficulty and straining the system

The rapid increase in spending by councils is in reaction to a problem better tackled at source

An intolerable burden is being placed on future generations that will result in financial crises and political instability

Governments should build on, not rip up, what went before — the new skills strategy does just that

Rising public debt is one concern — another is how it is being financed

Many governments have not come clean with voters about the growing fiscal strains on the welfare state