Ministers are being urged to give councils more time to address their special needs deficits by a major teaching union.
The NASUWT has warned that government interventions on council special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) spending - through the Safety Valve and the Delivering Better Value Programmes - are driving through changes “in short order”, which could undermine longer-term reforms.
In a letter to chancellor Rachel Reeves ahead of the Autumn Budget, the union has urged her to relieve some of the pressure on English local authorities (LAs) that are subject to intervention because of their high-needs block deficits.
The union’s general secretary Dr Patrick Roach writes in the letter: “We ask you to extend the period of time that local authorities have to address their SEND deficits.”
He adds that it will be important for the government to identify reforms for the SEND system “to ensure that funding is used to the best possible effect”.
Currently, high-needs deficits are being kept off councils’ balance sheets until March 2026.
But a report published earlier this year revealed that one in four councils surveyed said they would become insolvent within a year or less if their SEND debt were put back on their books.
Extension would not require additional spending
The NASUWT has said that extending the period of time LAs have to address their SEND deficits would not require additional spending.
Instead, it would mean “merely the delaying of the transfer of debt from one part of the public sector to another” and would “relieve pressure on local authorities to rush to implement poorly-considered reforms that could be deeply damaging in the longer term”.
Speaking at an event at the Conservative Party conference another union leader also voiced concerns about the impact of the Safety Valve Programme.
The programme sees councils with the highest deficits receive funding from government to help clear them and in exchange the authority agrees to make reforms to bring their high needs spending into line with their funding.
But Pepe Di’lasio warned that this meant funding was being spent in ways which did not benefit pupils with SEND.
Discussing SEND at an event at the conference, the Association of School and College Leaders’ general secretary said: “I think that there is money in the system. It is tied up in bureaucracy, and it is tied up in all the wrong things that don’t get it to young person at the very heart of it.”
He said the the Safety Valves deals involved funding coming in and going back out again as loan repayments without “going anywhere near a young person”.
In his letter Dr Roach also repeated calls for the government to address the serious erosion of teachers’ pay “as a basis for delivering on the mission to improve opportunity and outcomes for all children and young people”.
He urged Ms Reeves to use the Budget to commit to a National Teachers’ Pay Commission, tasked with reporting its findings and recommendations within the next 12 months.
The Institute for Fiscal Studies warned this month that real terms pay for experienced teachers is still likely to be 9 per cent below 2010 levels despite the 5.5 per cent increase agreed between government and unions this year.
In its submission to the chancellor ahead of the October Budget, the Association of School and College Leaders called for the government to “eradicate the £3.2 billion high-needs block deficit so that all available funding reaches LAs and frontline provision”.
ASCL also called for a fully costed implementation plan for SEND and alternative provision “that identifies roles and responsibilities for LAs, education and health”.
The union also called for the chancellor to “fully consider” the impact of the VAT levy on independent schools.
SEND funding ‘requires urgent attention’
Tes revealed earlier this month that headteachers’ and teachers’ leaders had warned that imposing VAT on independent school fees could cause a “loss of talented teachers” for both state and private schools.
ASCL said it was “disappointing” that the government had only carried out a technical consultation on the draft legislation and urged the government to carry out a full consultation “to properly understand the impact of this policy”.
Paul Whiteman, general secretary of the NAHT school leaders’ union, said that SEND funding “requires urgent attention”.
He added: “While funding alone won’t provide all the answers, there is a clear need for targeted investment if the system is to not face complete collapse. While the current government is not responsible, the situation has really become that bad.”
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