Treasury societies call on minister to tackle SEND children funding crisis
0The presidents of the Society of London Treasurers and the Society of County Treasurers have written to Damian Hinds MP, the secretary of state for education, asking for an urgent injection of funds for children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), and for a review of the Children and Families Act of 2014.
The legislation introduced Education, Health and Care Plans (EHC), of which there has been an increase of 35% since 2014, while no new money has been made available to manage the increase.
According to the letter, work is being undertaken to manage the additional demand and associated costs, but “a financial crisis” is rapidly emerging in some councils.
The two presidents, Gerald Almeroth for London boroughs and John Betts for counties, outline the pressure that their member councils are under.
“The majority of councils that we represent are in real difficulty with many not only reporting in-year deficits of costs against allocated funding, but also with deficits being carried forward on their balance sheets with no prospect of these positions being improved.”
Research recently carried out by both societies show that 94% of surveyed counties are expecting a deficit on the dedicated schools grant high needs block this year, and for London the figure is 88%, with 100% expected to be in deficit the following year.
“There is only limited scope for moving money out of direct school budgets to help with this pressure, and in any case with many schools finding it difficult to cope with the new National Funding Formula this isn’t an ideal or sustainable position”, said the letter.
Last week council leaders in Yorkshire and Humber wrote to the chancellor and education secretary describing the plight of their councils stemming from the growth in the Education and Health Care Plans and the failure of the government to make new money available.
