ALN in Wales: Will the New £8.2 Million and Parent Toolkit Deliver Real Change?

In October 2025, the Welsh Government announced new funding and measures to strengthen support for children and young people with Additional Learning Needs (ALN). The announcement included:

• £8.2 million in additional funding for local authorities, schools, and colleges

• A new national Parent and Carer Information Toolkit

• Guidance to make ALN delivery more consistent across Wales

• Promises of closer working between education, health, and social care

At Learn Without Limits CIC, we welcome any steps towards improving outcomes. But we also ask the tough questions: will this change anything for the families living on the sharp edge of the system today?

The Numbers Don’t Lie

When the ALN Act was introduced, projections suggested around 22% of Welsh pupils might be identified as having ALN. But in practice, identification under the new Individual Development Plan (IDP) system has been far lower than expected. Many children with genuine needs have been labelled as being part of “Universal Provision” without tailored support.

Under the old Special Educational Needs system, around 1.5% of learners had a Statement, but up to 20% more received help under School Action or School Action Plus. Those categories were abolished in Wales. Today, if your child doesn't meet the threshold for an IDP, they may fall through the cracks completely.

Meanwhile, demand for Local Authority–funded home learning programmes is rising rapidly — not because families want to leave mainstream provision, but because they feel forced out by the inadequacy of what’s available.

Are Families Being Heard?

The proposed “Parent Toolkit” is being framed as a new way to explain families’ rights and what support to expect. But few parents even knew the toolkit was being developed. At Learn Without Limits CIC, we only heard about it this month — and we’re deeply embedded in the Welsh ALN community. This suggests the toolkit was created without meaningful parental involvement.

The truth is that families are not opting out of mainstream — they’re being pushed out. Children with long COVID, those with rare genetic conditions, those with cerebral palsy or dyspraxia — they often struggle to access specialist provision that fits their needs. And some young people never even make it through the door: “fitness to study” policies at some FE colleges effectively bar them from continuing education.

If diagnosis and support are hard to access for highly visible conditions like autism or ADHD, they are almost impossible for less common needs. We cannot build a system around only the most well-resourced or most visible groups.

Mental Health and Missed Referrals

The mental health crisis among Welsh young people is growing. Yet CAMHS waiting times remain untenable. Our own community has seen children referred to the Integrated Autism Service at 16 still waiting at 21. NHS dental waiting lists have stretched so long that children wait until adulthood for care requested during primary school.

In areas like Swansea, the situation is dire: ambulances reportedly take up to 16 hours to respond to medical emergencies. When health collapses, education follows. If we don’t fix the basics, no toolkit will paper over the cracks.

The slow erosion of agreements — like school nurses offering a route to neurodevelopmental referrals — is especially worrying. These “mission creep” changes are happening piecemeal across LAs and Health Boards, and without parent pushback, they’ll quietly spread.

The Trap of the “Forever Volunteer”

Meanwhile, young people with ALN and lifelong conditions are expected to be grateful for being endlessly “supported” — but rarely empowered. Agencies like Maximus and some FE colleges receive public funds to “prepare” young people for work. But many are kept in endless cycles of “employability support” without actually being helped into meaningful employment.

For disabled young people and long-term carers trying to re-enter the workforce, the reality is a life stuck in unpaid roles that benefit providers more than participants. This dependency model needs to be broken. ALN youth want autonomy and self-determination, not more paperwork and empty meetings.

What Makes Learn Without Limits Different?

We’re not waiting for top-down consultations. We’re building tools now — with and for families — that give them what they need to navigate ALN, health, and education systems in Wales.

Our ALN Parent Guide App is built by those who use the system. It evolves with the lived experience of parents, carers, and young people. Our translation? Done by a 19-year-old autistic adult. Our content? Shaped weekly by the questions and concerns raised in our online groups.

We’re covering the 25+ cliff edge, EHE re-entry, rare and invisible conditions, and realistic mental health pathways. Every app release responds to what families tell us they need.

A Call to Action

This isn’t about politics. It’s about outcomes.

We invite you to share your stories and contribute to a new kind of support network. One that grows with you. One that isn’t waiting for a toolkit to arrive in the post.

📲 Download our ALN Parent Guide App
🔗 Visit learnwithoutlimitscic.org
👥 Join our Facebook Group

Together, we’re not just surviving. We’re rebuilding a system that works.