Fears that Gov plan to fund special needs schooling directly may be bad for families

The Government is proposing to take on the costs of special education instead of councils – but fears have been flagged that this might not be the reprieve it looks like.

The Autumn Budget included several major policy changes that will affect local councils.

According to budget papers by RBWM officers, most of them won’t change how affordable services are overall, except for proposals relating to special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).

The Government says it plans to take over the cost of SEND from 2028/29.

But it has not said how it will deal with the large SEND-related deficits that councils have already built up – or will continue to build up before 2028.

The Government gives councils a pot of money to run local education services and to support children with special educational needs.

For the past 10 years, this fund has not been enough to cover what the council is legally required to provide, so it has been in the red.

This year the shortfall is £5million, and it is expected to increase because the number of children needing support is rising and costs are going up faster than the funding.

By the end of the financial year, the total overspend is expected to reach £9million.

It has been warned that if the Government does not come up with a plan to clear these deficits, councils could end up in financially unsafe positions, making RBWM’s existing budget pressures even worse.

Moreover, Cllr Amy Tisi, cabinet member for education, however, is sceptical that putting the burden back on central Government in the future is necessarily as good as it seems.

It could be good news because it takes those large spending amounts off the council’s books, she said – especially important as the ‘statutory override’ is due to end.

At the moment, deficits in SEND don’t appear in a council’s day-to-day accounts, and therefore don’t affecting the council’s main budget position.

But once the override expires, those deficits will fall back onto councils’ core finances.

Given the cost of SEND, that would be completely unmanageable – and there is ‘no doubt’ that will bankrupt councils, Cllr Tisi said.

Nonetheless, a centralised model of funding presents too many unanswered questions, she feels.

“The problem is there is too much uncertainty about what’s going to happen,” she said.

“The SEND reforms white paper has been delayed and there is this vacuum, causing worry for parents, schools and the councils as to what [SEND] is going to look like going forward.

“It does make you wonder, have they bitten off more than they can chew? The SEND system is so complex – it’s not going to be easy to work it out.

Cllr Tisi’s worry is that this proposal might be a movement towards limiting what support is offered.

“I think the logical conclusion is that, by taking it on centrally, they are able to take on much more control over what support is given,” she said. “Are they going to deal with [SEND costs] by removing or reducing provision – are they going to reform it so that fewer children are entitled to additional support?”

“That’s my worst case scenario, children not able to receive the support they need - and in the absence of clear plans from the Government, your mind does go to the worst case scenario.”

The situation is further alienating families with SEND children, Cllr Tisi added.

“The SEND system is becoming such an adversarial system – parents having to fight for the provision they feel they need for their child,” she said.

The Department for Education said it will continue engaging with parents, teachers and local authorities and will set out its full plans to reform the system through the Schools White Paper early next year, including 'ensuring greater financial sustainability for councils.'

It added that it has already committed to extending the statutory override to 2028.

More detail about how the department will provide support for councils with SEND deficits will be set out at the upcoming Local Government Finance Settlement.