Schools are increasingly acting as the de facto front line for children’s health, wellbeing and social needs — but new research warns they cannot, and should not, be expected to carry that burden alone. Recent surveys from the National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER) show high levels of pupil need alongside stretched school budgets and strained access to external services; the result is a system where teachers and leaders are patching gaps that would once have been met by health, social care and specialist SEND provision. The implications for learning, staff retention and pupil equality are profound and immediate.
The National Foundation for Educational Research’s ongoing Teacher Voice and cost-of-living research programmes (published across 2023–2025 reporting cycles) document a persistent rise in non-academic needs among pupils — hunger, inadequate clothing, poor mental health, and increased reliance on school-funded or commissioned support. NFER’s surveys (including a March 2024 Teacher Voice omnibus and follow-ups through 2025) report that a very large share of teachers and leaders believe external support services are insufficient, and many schools are already acting to mitigate the effects.
Key headline findings emerging from these datasets and corroborated by multiple national sector reports include:
Practical improvement requires three connected moves: protect schools’ core educational budgets; build the allied professional workforce and specialist services; and re-design local systems so education, health and social care are jointly accountable and jointly resourced. Absent that, the growing number of pupils with unmet needs risks becoming an entrenched cohort that underachieves not because of schooling per se, but because the wider safety net that allows them to learn no longer exists.
The evidence is clear: schools are doing more than ever — but they cannot shoulder the burden of wider support for pupils alone. System-level action is the only route to a durable and equitable solution.
Source: Newswav Schools cannot shoulder burden of wider support for pupils alone, research warns
Background and overview
The National Foundation for Educational Research’s ongoing Teacher Voice and cost-of-living research programmes (published across 2023–2025 reporting cycles) document a persistent rise in non-academic needs among pupils — hunger, inadequate clothing, poor mental health, and increased reliance on school-funded or commissioned support. NFER’s surveys (including a March 2024 Teacher Voice omnibus and follow-ups through 2025) report that a very large share of teachers and leaders believe external support services are insufficient, and many schools are already acting to mitigate the effects.Key headline findings emerging from these datasets and corroborated by multiple national sector reports include:
- Around seven in ten teachers report they do not receive the support they need from key external services — such as mental health teams, physical health services, SEND advice and local authority provision — to meet the needs of their pupils.
- A majority of schools have commissioned or paid for external counselling or therapeutic support themselves where local services are not available.
- Large proportions of teachers are spending their own money on pupil essentials (food, clothing, classroom essentials); in some surveys this is reported by well over half of respondents.
- School leaders are reporting worsening budget positions, with many expecting in-year deficits that will force further cuts to staff, resources and enrichment provision.
Why schools are filling the gaps: scale and drivers of demand
The changing nature of pupil need
Across the surveys, schools report that the proportion of pupils requiring help with basic material needs and wellbeing has increased. Examples include:- More pupils arriving at school hungry or without adequate clothing and equipment.
- A rise in the number of children needing pastoral and mental-health support, including emotional regulation, anxiety and trauma-related needs.
- Greater numbers of pupils with complex SEND needs whose access to statutory assessments or specialist services is delayed by capacity limits.
Workforce and specialist shortages
Educational psychologists, speech and language therapists, occupational therapists, and CAMHS clinicians are frequently cited as scarce. Where local authority or NHS provision is thin, schools either:- Commission private or third-sector services (at cost), or
- Reassign existing staff (teachers, teaching assistants, senior leaders) to welfare roles.
Financial pressure on schools
NFER’s surveys show widespread cuts to non-staff budgets, planned capital investment and sometimes even targeted learning support. In many settings, leaders report that budgets are deteriorating and further cuts are expected in the coming financial year. When schools are expected to subsidize essentials like food, uniform and counselling, the pressure on core educational provision becomes acute.What support is missing — and where the bottlenecks are
Mental health services (CAMHS/CYP mental health teams)
Schools report long waits and limited access to child and adolescent mental health services. In practice, this means many pupils who would benefit from specialist assessment or therapy are instead supported within school by teachers or counsellors funded by the school.- Consequence: teachers are spending time delivering crisis and therapeutic interventions that they are not trained or paid to provide, leading to workload intensification and burnout.
SEND services and statutory assessments
Delays in educational psychology assessments and in issuing Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCPs) mean pupils with SEND can go without appropriate, funded support for extended periods.- Consequence: teachers and TAs attempt to compensate with in-class differentiation, while special resources and adaptations remain unavailable.
Social care and family support
Reductions in social work capacity and an overstretched welfare system mean that issues such as housing instability, parental mental illness, or family income shocks often surface in schools as safeguarding or attendance problems.- Consequence: schools act as referral hubs and stopgaps — running food banks, coordinating welfare referrals, or providing signposting — roles that add to administrative and pastoral workload.
Primary healthcare access
Physical health gaps — for example, delays in speech and language therapy or occupational therapy — hinder early interventions that would otherwise reduce later classroom disruption.- Consequence: emerging needs escalate into more complex barriers to learning.
How schools are responding on the ground
Schools are not passively accepting these pressures; they are innovating and adapting. Common strategies include:- Commissioning external counsellors, therapists or private specialists where public services cannot meet demand.
- Creating internal wellbeing teams, sometimes at the expense of curriculum staffing.
- Running subsidised meals, clothing banks and emergency funds for families.
- Training staff in mental-health first aid, trauma-informed practice and basic SEND strategies.
- Partnering with local charities and community organisations for wraparound support.
The costs and consequences: learning, staff retention and inequality
Learning and attainment risks
When schools allocate time, staff and money to welfare functions, classroom time and targeted academic support can be reduced. Schools report cuts to tutoring, wider curriculum breadth and enrichment activities — all of which can depress educational outcomes, particularly for disadvantaged pupils.Staff wellbeing and retention
Teachers and support staff report high workload, frequent emotional labour and a rising proportion of time spent on non-teaching duties. This combination is a major driver of burnout and attrition, which further undermines schools’ capacity to support pupils.Widening inequality
Wealthier areas with stronger local NHS and private markets can buy-in support more readily than deprived areas. Where service shortages are geographic, the most disadvantaged pupils — who need the most support — are left with the least. This compounds long-term social mobility problems.Policy and system-level failures: where accountability and funding collide
There are several structural policy issues feeding the crisis:- Fragmented funding and responsibility: Education, health and social care budgets are managed separately. Schools carry responsibility for outcomes without commensurate funding or control over the services required.
- Workforce pipeline failures: Training and recruitment for allied professions (educational psychologists, therapists, CAMHS clinicians) have not kept pace with demand.
- Local variation: The capacity of local authorities and NHS trusts varies widely, producing a postcode lottery for access to assessment and services.
- Short-term commissioning: Reliance on short-term grants and temporary programmes prevents long-term workforce and service planning.
What good practice looks like: early integrated models and scalable interventions
A handful of practical, scalable responses have emerged that reduce pressure on schools while improving outcomes:- Mental Health Support Teams (school-linked multi-disciplinary teams) operating at scale and embedded within local systems, so that schools triage and refer quickly.
- Local area partnerships that formally integrate education, health and social care data-sharing and commissioning to reduce duplication and speed referrals.
- Ring-fenced funding for targeted pupil welfare (for example, to underwrite counselling provision or to subsidise essentials) so school core budgets do not absorb recurring social care costs.
- Expanding the number and distribution of educational psychologists and allied therapists through funded training places and retention incentives.
- Evidence-based whole-school approaches to behaviour and wellbeing that reduce demand for high-intensity interventions (e.g., trauma-informed practice, restorative approaches, social-emotional learning curricula).
Practical recommendations for policymakers and system leaders
- Prioritise investment in community mental health and SEND capacity with multi-year funding commitments to stabilise workforce pipelines.
- Create national/local accountability frameworks that explicitly allocate responsibilities and funding for pupil welfare across education, health and social care.
- Expand and accelerate the roll-out of integrated Mental Health Support Teams tied to clear performance metrics and rapid referral pathways.
- Fund local commissioning hubs that can pool budgets across schools, health trusts and councils to buy specialist services more efficiently, protecting smaller schools from cost risks.
- Provide schools with dedicated, ring-fenced wellbeing budgets so they do not have to divert core teaching funds into essential social provision.
- Invest in preventative and whole-school programmes with a strong evidence base to lower downstream demand for high-cost interventions.
- Improve transparency and data-sharing across sectors to target scarce resources to the highest-need communities.
What schools can do now (practical steps that make immediate difference)
- Audit local service availability and waiting times to create an honest map of gaps, then collaborate with neighboring schools to commission shared provision where feasible.
- Protect curriculum core time: designate a small, trained mental-health team rather than expecting every teacher to be the primary therapeutic practitioner.
- Build partnerships with voluntary and community organisations that can deliver non-clinical wraparound support (food banks, legal advice, housing signposting).
- Document and report unmet needs systematically to local authorities and regional bodies — robust data strengthens funding and commissioning cases.
- Advocate collectively through trusts, unions and local partnerships to press for systemic change rather than relying on ad-hoc school-by-school solutions.
Risks, caveats and things to watch
- Some survey figures are drawn from omnibus teacher/leader panels conducted at specific points in the academic year; caution is required when extrapolating to national prevalence across all schools and phases.
- Local context matters: the scale of unmet need and service gaps varies by region and by school disadvantage profile; one-size-fits-all prescriptions risk missing local bottlenecks.
- Commissioning private providers can create temporary capacity but risks creating long-term dependence on market provision that may be unsustainable.
- Short-term funding boosts without workforce and system planning can produce temporary relief followed by renewed pressure as demand outstrips capacity again.
The bottom line
Schools perform many of the functions of welfare, health and community hubs — and they do so with admirable dedication. But that dedication cannot be a substitute for properly funded, multi-sector public services. Expecting schools to be the primary deliverers of mental health care, social support, and specialist SEND assessment without commensurate funding and workforce capacity is unsustainable and unfair to pupils, families and school staff.Practical improvement requires three connected moves: protect schools’ core educational budgets; build the allied professional workforce and specialist services; and re-design local systems so education, health and social care are jointly accountable and jointly resourced. Absent that, the growing number of pupils with unmet needs risks becoming an entrenched cohort that underachieves not because of schooling per se, but because the wider safety net that allows them to learn no longer exists.
The evidence is clear: schools are doing more than ever — but they cannot shoulder the burden of wider support for pupils alone. System-level action is the only route to a durable and equitable solution.
Source: Newswav Schools cannot shoulder burden of wider support for pupils alone, research warns