Council leaders in the North of England have made an urgent appeal to the chancellor and education secretary for more funding for children with special needs.
Town halls across Yorkshire and the Humber have warned that “the system is buckling”, with 15 authorities overspending by more than £40 million on high-needs pupils this year.
They warned that more than £10m had been diverted away from schools already struggling with tight budgets this year, and more than £40m had been top-sliced from schools since 2014-15 to try to plug the gap.
Now council leaders are urging Philip Hammond and Damian Hinds to prioritise an increase in high-needs funding in the government’s next spending review.
North Yorkshire County Council’s Conservative council leader Carl Les said: “Unless the government agrees in the spending review to fund special educational needs provision fully, council overspending in this area will increase further and become totally unsustainable. The system will buckle.
“We are diverting money urgently needed for other vital services, as well as seeking to move money from mainstream schools when they are already struggling with their budgets. This cannot go on.”
Leeds City Council leader Judith Blake said: “The government has dealt a poor hand to the some of the nation’s most vulnerable children and young people, and we are now demanding they give this crisis their urgent attention.
“Supporting children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities is one of the most important jobs that we do, but the burden of this funding can no longer be placed on councils that have felt the full effect of austerity.”
In the four previous years, from 2014-15 through to 2017-18, councils across Yorkshire and the Humber spent nearly £86m more than they received in funding, drew on their reserves by more than £44m and top-sliced nearly £42m from school budgets.
Yorkshire councils say the crisis has developed because the government introduced legislative reform in 2014 that supported children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities through new education, health and care plans (EHCPs), increasing the age range and demands on budgets without increasing the finances available.
There has also been a 46 per cent increase regionally in the number of pupils with EHCPs since the reform was introduced in 2014.
A statement from the 15 councils across Yorkshire said: “While councils welcomed the reforms and the improved support and recognition for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities, they urgently need the government to meet the funding demand.”
Last week, Tes reported that pupil-referral units across a large part of the North of England could face closure because a council was cutting their funding in a bid to halt rising pupil-exclusion rates among mainstream schools.
North Yorkshire County Council’s cuts to its pupil-referral service were blamed on a £5.5m funding shortfall for high-needs pupils.
Tes also revealed earlier this month that the cost to the taxpayer of educating pupils in independent special schools had soared by 40 per cent in the past five years.
Responses from 90 local authorities showed that they spent a total of £565m last year on private schools for pupils with SEND.
The Local Government Association warned that, nationally, the system faced a half-a-billion-pound funding shortfall for high-needs pupils.
A Department for Education spokesperson said: “There is more money going into schools than ever before, rising to a record £43.5 billion by 2020 - 50 per cent more in real terms per pupil than in 2000. In Yorkshire and the Humber, schools have received £3.4bn in total cash funding this year, having received £3.3bn last year.
“But we do recognise there are pressures on high-needs budgets due to increasing costs. To make sure children with special educational needs and disabilities achieve well in school, Yorkshire and the Humber will receive £500m in high-needs funding in 2018-19.”
