Special school delays undermine deficit reduction efforts

Councils on the controversial safety valve scheme are blaming government delays in opening new special schools for undermining their plans to shrink huge financial deficits.

Nine councils – nearly a quarter of those on the scheme – have flagged delays, with many pointing the finger at the Department for Education.

Wokingham Borough Council estimates that a delay last year in opening two new special schools will cost £20 million – the amount the council has been pledged in government bailouts to get its high-needs deficit under control.

Of the 179 approved free schools waiting to open, 67 (more than a third) are special schools.

Six have been waiting more than eight years, with others caught up in a government “value-for-money” review as wider SEND reform plans are drawn up.

“We would encourage the DfE to act swiftly on progressing special free school decisions to ensure children with special educational needs and disabilities get the support they need,” said Arooj Shah, the chair of the children and young people board.

“A lack of special schools … also means more children have to be placed out of area, in independent settings that are often more expensive.”

‘Costly’ delays

The safety valve scheme has pledged about £1 billion in bailouts over up to seven years to councils with the largest deficits on their special needs spending. But they must meet strict cost-cutting targets in return for the cash.

Jonathan Wilding, Wokingham’s safety valve consultant, said it was “disappointing” the government had moved the opening of two new specialist schools to 2028.

In a November meeting, he said the “delay would be very costly”, with ongoing talks attempting to bring the openings forward.

The council said it could have delivered the project two years earlier than the DfE’s timescale as the schools were on council-owned land, but the department refused permission. In the meantime, the council will have to spend more on independent special schools.

“Our assessment is that the two-year delay will cost an additional £20 million by 2030,” a council spokesperson said.

“Given that we have a shortfall in local maintained special school places, this has been calculated based on every intended placement being made in the independent sector as the only alternative.”

‘Lack of progress is significant’

Similarly, November’s safety valve monitoring report from Isle of Wight Council said: “Until expansion of SEND provision is established on the island, it is likely there will be continued consideration for EOTAS [education otherwise than at school] required.

“The lack of progress with the free school is significant in plans.”

The council now wants to take the funds earmarked for the special free school and spend them on other projects.

“We haven’t heard back from the DfE on the free school bid and, as such, are being proactive in creation of more specialist places to meet the needs of our children,” a council spokesperson said.

“The free school was an integral part of our safety valve agreement, but its lack of progress is outside our control or influence and, as such, has impacted upon our safety valve programme. However, we developed a new satellite provision for SEMH [social, emotional and mental health] that has countered this.

“We would want to use any available capital to expand specialist provision across the Isle of Wight, which we believe could be more aligned to need and delivered more quickly than a new special free school.”

Bracknell Forest, Richmond, Kent and Kirklees have also highlighted DfE delays around new schools.

Kent County Council attributes £1.9 million of its in-year deficit to delays in opening special schools that the DfE is leading on.

Kingston, Salford and Bristol have flagged similar issues, but haven’t publicly blamed the DfE. None responded to a request for comment from Schools Week.

Government data for last year shows that about two thirds of special schools are at or over capacity.

‘Huge pressure on places’

Margaret Mulholland, the SEND and inclusion specialist at the leaders’ union ASCL, said delays to the opening of new schools would be “keenly felt”.

“While recent investment in new special schools is welcome, these will take years to establish. The huge pressure on places will continue in the meantime, with schools and local authorities struggling to cope and children going without the support they need.

“We are currently paying the price for underinvestment over the past decade. It’s time to draw a line under local authority deficits and focus on ensuring all SEND pupils, in both mainstream and special schools, are able to access timely support.”

A government spokesperson said work on special and AP free schools was continuing. “As with all government investment, [these] projects will be subject to value for money consideration through their development, in line with the government’s vision for the special educational needs system.”

They added the SEND system inherited from the Conservatives was “on its knees – which is why, as part of our plan for change, we are thinking differently about what the system should look like, to restore the confidence of families and ensure every child can achieve and thrive.”

Councils fail to publish reports

The issues with special school delays were raised in school forum and safety valve monitoring reports examined by Schools Week.

However, of the 38 local authorities on the programme, just seven appear to publish the monitoring reports they are required to send to the DfE.

Both the department and councils have blocked freedom of information requests for the reports on the grounds that disclosure would compromise “free and frank discussion” between councils and the DfE.

Of the seven councils that do publish their reports, only two do so in a relatively accessible manner – Kent and Isle of Wight – with the other five burying them in schools forum committee papers.

“We believe in transparency and by sharing our plans there is no ambiguity,” said an Isle of Wight Council spokesperson.

“We have even invited parents and carers to sit on our area SEN partnership board. The only way we are going to improve SEN provision across the Island is by working together.”

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