--- title: "How to Maintain SEND Maths Support When TA Budgets Are Cut | XTables Champions" description: "71% of English schools have cut TAs. Here's how SENCOs and Year 4-6 teachers can maintain SEND maths support using the 2026 Inclusive Mainstream Fund." lang: en json-ld: | [ { "name": "XTables Champions", "@context": "https://schema.org", "@type": "WebSite", "url": "https://xtableschampions.com" }, { "name": "XTables Champions", "logo": "https://qtrypzzcjebvfcihiynt.supabase.co/storage/v1/object/public/base44-prod/public/68cac2c61c34894625d63273/cae3abbca_logo.png", "@context": "https://schema.org", "@type": "Organization", "url": "https://xtableschampions.com" }, { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://math-magicians-academy-25d63273.base44.app/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "send maths support ta budget cuts inclusive mainstream fund", "item": "https://math-magicians-academy-25d63273.base44.app/send-maths-support-ta-budget-cuts-inclusive-mainstream-fund" } ] }, { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@type": "FAQPage", "mainEntity": [ { "@type": "Question", "name": "What is the Inclusive Mainstream Fund introduced in the 2026 SEND White Paper?", "acceptedAnswer": { "@type": "Answer", "text": "The Inclusive Mainstream Fund is a ring-fenced funding stream introduced under the 2026 SEND White Paper that allows English schools to directly purchase early interventions for pupils with additional needs. The aim is to let schools act proactively, before a child requires a statutory Education, Health and Care Plan, by funding targeted support in the mainstream setting." } }, { "@type": "Question", "name": "Can the Inclusive Mainstream Fund be used to purchase EdTech tools for SEND pupils?", "acceptedAnswer": { "@type": "Answer", "text": "The fund is intended for early interventions in mainstream settings, which in principle can include digital tools. However, the precise rules on eligible spending will be interpreted locally by each local authority. SENCOs should check with their LA and senior leadership team before committing any fund spend to a specific tool or programme." } }, { "@type": "Question", "name": "How do TA cuts affect SEND pupils in maths specifically?", "acceptedAnswer": { "@type": "Answer", "text": "Many SEND pupils, particularly those with maths anxiety, dyscalculia or working memory difficulties, have historically relied on TA-led small-group or one-to-one sessions for maths fluency work. When those sessions disappear due to budget cuts, those pupils lose the consistent repetition, adapted delivery and emotional scaffolding that helped them make progress. Without a replacement structure, they can quietly fall behind." } }, { "@type": "Question", "name": "What can a SENCO do to protect SEND maths progress when TA hours are reduced?", "acceptedAnswer": { "@type": "Answer", "text": "Start by mapping which specific pupils were receiving TA-supported maths time and identifying exactly what has been lost. Then explore whether the Inclusive Mainstream Fund or other early-intervention budgets can fund targeted replacement support. Digital tools designed specifically for SEND learners can automate some of the repetition and low-stakes practice that TAs previously managed, freeing up remaining adult time for higher-level support." } }, { "@type": "Question", "name": "Why is maths fluency particularly important for Year 4 to Year 6 SEND pupils?", "acceptedAnswer": { "@type": "Answer", "text": "Times tables and number fluency knowledge accumulates. Children who do not reach a reasonable level of automaticity by the end of Key Stage 2 often find secondary maths significantly harder, because gaps compound rather than stay static. The Year 4 to Year 6 window is a critical intervention period, and interruptions to support during these years can have a disproportionate effect on longer-term outcomes." } }, { "@type": "Question", "name": "How is XTables Champions different from other maths fluency tools for SEND pupils?", "acceptedAnswer": { "@type": "Answer", "text": "XTables Champions is built specifically with SEND-friendly and neurodivergent-accessible design at its core, rather than being an accessibility retrofit. It uses game formats that children already know and enjoy, including multiplayer options, which reduces the emotional charge that maths practice can carry for anxious learners. The aim is to make repetition feel like play rather than remediation." } }, { "@type": "Question", "name": "How can a school in England find out more about using XTables Champions for SEND support?", "acceptedAnswer": { "@type": "Answer", "text": "Visit xtableschampions.com or contact the team directly through the website. XTables Champions is a small, founder-led company at an early stage, which means schools get a real conversation rather than an automated sales process. They are particularly interested in hearing from SENCOs and Year 4-6 teachers working with maths-anxious or neurodivergent pupils." } } ] } ] --- [ XTables Champions Part of the ESSTA Kids family ](/Welcome) [About Us](/About)[Rewards ](/OurRewards) Tips & Tricks [Games](/Games)Login [ XTables Champions Part of the ESSTA Kids family ](/Welcome) [Learn](/levels-and-progression) [Games](/GamesOverview) [All Games](/GamesOverview)[Connect Four](/connect-four)[Guess Who?](/guess-who)[Times Tables Bingo](/times-tables-bingo)[Snap!](/snap)[Play with Friends](/games/play-with-friends)[Play against Champion](/games/play-against-champion) [Every Learner](/times-tables-for-every-learner) [Adaptive Learning](/adaptive-times-tables-learning) [Schools](/ForSchools) [Lunchtime Clubs](/LunchtimeClubs)[SENCO Support](/SchoolSencoInfo)[Homework Setting](/SchoolHomeworkSetting)[Whole-Class Games](/SchoolWholeClassGames)[Level Matching](/SchoolLevelMatching) [Wellbeing](/wellbeing-and-safeguarding) [Pricing](/pricing) Log In / Sign Up [Back to all articles](/Blog) # How to Maintain SEND Maths Support When TA Budgets Are Cut 19 June 2026 If your school has reduced Teaching Assistant hours this year, you are not alone, and SEND maths support does not have to collapse as a result. There are real, practical ways to keep neurodivergent and maths-anxious pupils progressing, even with fewer adults in the room. ## What Is Actually Happening Right Now A 2026 Sutton Trust poll found that **71% of English school leaders have cut Teaching Assistants due to budget pressures**. That is a staggering figure, and when I first read it, my immediate thought was: what does that mean for the children who relied most on those adults? For many pupils with SEND, a TA was not a nice-to-have. They were the person who spotted when a child was shutting down during a maths session, who quietly repeated an instruction in a different way, who made it possible for a child with dyscalculia or maths anxiety to stay in the room rather than retreat. At almost exactly the same time, the 2026 SEND White Paper introduced the Inclusive Mainstream Fund, a ring-fenced pot of money that schools can use directly to purchase early interventions for pupils with additional needs. These two things arriving together is significant. Schools are losing the human resource they depended on, and simultaneously being handed a mechanism to fund alternatives. That combination is worth paying close attention to. ## The Gap That TA Cuts Leave in Maths Maths is one of the subjects where TA support has historically mattered most for SEND pupils. Times tables and number fluency in particular sit in a tricky place: they require repetition and low-stakes practice, but for children with maths anxiety or working memory difficulties, that repetition can feel humiliating if it is delivered in front of peers or in a way that highlights what they cannot yet do. When I looked into how schools have typically bridged this gap, what stands out is how much of the heavy lifting came from one-to-one or small-group TA time, often outside the main lesson. Short, regular fluency sessions. Gentle, consistent re-teaching. A familiar face removing some of the emotional charge around numbers. Without that, those pupils can quietly fall further behind, not because they are incapable, but because the conditions that helped them learn have disappeared. From the schools and SENCOs we speak to, that is exactly what they are worried about. Not a dramatic cliff-edge, but a slow drift: children who were making progress, now without the structure that made progress possible. ## What the Inclusive Mainstream Fund Is Actually For The Inclusive Mainstream Fund introduced in the 2026 SEND White Paper is designed to give schools direct purchasing power for early interventions, without waiting for an EHCP process or local authority approval. In practical terms, that means a SENCO or senior leader can identify a need, choose an appropriate intervention, and deploy it. What counts as an eligible early intervention will depend on how your local authority interprets the guidance, so it is worth checking that carefully. But the intent of the fund is clearly aimed at schools being proactive rather than reactive: catching children before they need a statutory assessment, not after. For maths fluency specifically, that window between Year 4 and Year 6 is critical. By Year 7, gaps in times tables knowledge compound quickly. The Inclusive Mainstream Fund is a real opportunity to act in that window. ## Why Digital Intervention Has a Genuine Role Here I want to be straightforward about something: digital tools are not a substitute for a skilled, empathetic TA. They cannot notice when a child is about to cry, or adjust their tone in response to a child's body language. Anyone who claims otherwise is overselling. But there is something that well-designed maths software can do that even the best TA sometimes cannot: it removes the social dynamic entirely. For a child with maths anxiety, practising times tables with a person watching, even a kind person, can be stressful. Practising inside a familiar game format, on their own terms, with no judgment attached, can feel completely different. What we keep hearing from the teachers and SENCOs we talk with is that the barrier is rarely cognitive. Children with dyscalculia or high maths anxiety often understand more than their performance suggests. The barrier is emotional. Repetition feels like failure when it is visible. Done in a low-stakes, engaging environment, the same repetition becomes just... playing. As our founder Gal Darrash puts it, "The children who struggle most with maths are often the ones who've learned to avoid it. Our job is to make it feel safe enough that they'll actually try." XTables Champions was built with that specific problem in mind. The app uses game formats that children already know and enjoy, with a strong multiplayer element that turns fluency practice into something social and fun rather than solitary and remedial. The design is SEND-friendly throughout, including for neurodivergent learners who need lower sensory load and clear, predictable interfaces. It automates the repetition cycle that a TA would previously have managed, freeing up whatever teacher or SENCO time remains to focus on the relational, observational work that only a human can do. ## What SENCOs Can Do Right Now If you are a SENCO or Year 4-6 teacher trying to figure out how to protect your SEND pupils' maths progress in this environment, here is what I would suggest thinking about. First, map the gap honestly. Which pupils were receiving regular TA-supported maths time, and what happens to that time now? Name the specific children and the specific sessions that have disappeared. Vague concern is harder to act on than a clear list. Second, check your school's position on the Inclusive Mainstream Fund with your senior leadership team. Understand what early interventions it can be used to fund and what the purchasing process looks like locally. Third, look at what digital intervention tools are genuinely designed for SEND learners, not just tools that claim to be accessible because they have an audio button. Look for evidence that the product was built with neurodivergent children in mind from the start, not retrofitted. Fourth, involve the children. Ask them what feels hard about maths, and what would make it feel less hard. Their answers are often more useful than any assessment data. ## Talk to Us About Supporting Your SEND Pupils If you are a SENCO, Year 4-6 teacher or primary school senior leader in England trying to protect maths progress for your SEND pupils in the face of TA cuts, we would genuinely like to hear from you. XTables Champions is a small, founder-led company and we are at an early stage, which means when you get in touch, you speak to people who care about getting this right, not a sales team running through a script. We are building something specifically for the children who find maths hardest, and every conversation with a school helps us do that better. Visit [xtableschampions.com](https://www.xtableschampions.com) or drop us a message to talk about how XTables Champions might support your neurodivergent and maths-anxious pupils this year. ## Frequently Asked Questions What is the Inclusive Mainstream Fund introduced in the 2026 SEND White Paper? Can the Inclusive Mainstream Fund be used to purchase EdTech tools for SEND pupils? How do TA cuts affect SEND pupils in maths specifically? What can a SENCO do to protect SEND maths progress when TA hours are reduced? Why is maths fluency particularly important for Year 4 to Year 6 SEND pupils? How is XTables Champions different from other maths fluency tools for SEND pupils? How can a school in England find out more about using XTables Champions for SEND support? ## Ready to help your child? Join thousands of families using XTables Champions to make multiplication click. Get Started Free XTables Champions Game-based times tables for children aged 6 to 11. No timers, no tears. For parents, schools and tutors. Part of ESSTA Kids. #### Platform - [Schools](/ForSchools) - [Levels & Progression](/levels-and-progression) - [Our Programme](/Programme) - [Rewards](/OurRewards) - [Pricing](/pricing) - [About Us](/About) - [Learning Philosophy](/LearningPhilosophy) - [Contact](/Contact) #### Community - [Insights](/Insights) - [For Parents Blog](/Blog) - [Tips & Tricks](/TipsTricks) - [Success Stories](/SuccessStories) - [Events & Competitions](/Events) - [Live Results](/Results) - [Lunchtime Clubs](/LunchtimeClubs) #### ESSTA Kids Expert learning programmes for children who need extra support. [Visit esstakids.com →](https://esstakids.com) © 2026 XTables Champions, An ESSTA Kids Programme. All rights reserved. [Privacy Policy](/PrivacyPolicy)• [Terms & Conditions](/TermsConditions)• [Sitemap](/sitemap.xml) XTables Champions Game-based times tables for children aged 6 to 11. No timers, no tears. For parents, schools and tutors. Part of ESSTA Kids. #### Platform - [Schools](/ForSchools) - [Levels & Progression](/levels-and-progression) - [Our Programme](/Programme) - [Rewards](/OurRewards) - [Pricing](/pricing) - [About Us](/About) - [Learning Philosophy](/LearningPhilosophy) - [Contact](/Contact) #### Community - [Insights](/Insights) - [For Parents Blog](/Blog) - [Tips & Tricks](/TipsTricks) - [Success Stories](/SuccessStories) - [Events & Competitions](/Events) - [Live Results](/Results) - [Lunchtime Clubs](/LunchtimeClubs) #### ESSTA Kids Expert learning programmes for children who need extra support. [Visit esstakids.com →](https://esstakids.com) © 2026 XTables Champions, An ESSTA Kids Programme. All rights reserved. [Privacy Policy](/PrivacyPolicy)• [Terms & Conditions](/TermsConditions)• [Sitemap](/sitemap.xml)