The Government has pledged to fund the full cost of provision for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) from 2028/29.
The announcement, in last month’s Autumn Budget, promised further details on plans to support local authorities with historic and accruing deficits, and the conditions for accessing such support, through the upcoming provisional local government finance settlement (LGFS).
Historic high-needs deficits are running at billions of pounds, with the County Councils Network warning last month that councils face “unimaginable” deficits related to SEND spending of £18 billion by the end of this Parliament.
Cllr Amanda Hopgood, Chair of the LGA’s Children, Young People and Families Committee, said: “While it is positive that government has committed to absorbing the costs of SEND spending from 2028/29 – and we look forward to clarity on how this will be funded – this does not address existing deficits, which are pushing many councils to the financial brink.
“In the provisional LGFS, we urge the Government to write off these deficits – both the current accumulated deficits and any future deficits expected up to and including 2028/29 – and to fully fund all associated costs, such as home-to-school transport, over this period, ahead of setting out wider, comprehensive reform of the SEND system in the schools white paper.”