LEADING charities warned yesterday that Scotland will be left with a “lost generation” of children with additional support needs if funding cuts to vital services continue.

According to the Scottish Children’s Services Coalition (SCSC), more than a fifth of school pupils have additional needs such as dyslexia or autism, and many of them come from lower-income households and areas of deprivation.

However, the number of learning support teachers fell from 3,363 to 2,936 (13 per cent) between 2010 and 2015, while the number of auxiliaries and behaviour support staff went down from 19,332 to 17,498 (9 per cent) over the same period.

Falkland House School director Stuart Jacob warned: “Public-sector cuts have already affected vulnerable children and families in Scotland and, against a background of welfare reform, any further cuts will have a cumulative impact.”

He said the cost to society of these cuts would far outweigh any savings and would also hinder efforts to close the educational attainment gap.

The SCSC has written to the Scottish government and Scotland’s 32 local authorities, calling on them to “protect and increase investment in services or face the prospect of a lost generation of vulnerable children and young people.”

Scottish Labour inequalities spokeswoman Monica Lennon said: “The brutal reality is that the SNP has doubled down on Tory cuts to Scotland, stripping hundreds of millions of pounds from local services, which have seen huge cuts to additional support needs staff.”

Scottish Green Party education spokesman Ross Greer said: “It’s just not good enough for the Scottish government to slash council budgets and then pass the blame on to those same councils for cutting vital staff.”