Whilst music education is recognised as a fundamental right for all children in England, pupils with learning disabilities in special schools face persistent barriers in accessing high quality musical opportunities. This paper examines the policy-practice divide through an ecological lens, to understand why implementation gaps persist despite policy commitments to inclusion, and how these gaps might be bridged. The lived experiences of music provision for pupils with learning disabilities were examined through interviews with 21 special school educators across three key groups (generalist teachers, music curriculum leads, and visiting music specialists). Two key barrier types emerged: resource challenges (budget constraints, limited resources, and staffing limitations) and staff-related factors (narrow ideas about music, low confidence, and gaps in specialised knowledge). These barriers are compounded by professional divides between generalist teachers and visiting music specialists, creating missed opportunities for collaborative approaches that could leverage both groups’ expertise. Ecological systems analysis revealed that these barriers operate across multiple levels, from individual teacher confidence to national funding decisions, resulting in interconnected patterns resistant to simple solutions. The findings demonstrate how seemingly individual barriers are in fact products of broader systemic issues that reflect fundamental mismatches between policy intentions and special school realities. Multi-level intervention strategies are proposed that focus on leveraging generalist teachers’ existing pedagogical strengths, reframing how music is conceptualised, and reconsidering how policies are framed.