SEND: Will local government reorganisation help reforms?

Long Read

Will local government reorganisation improve SEND?

The government says yes, but others say it will split services and make new councils bankrupt from the get-go

Ruth Lucas

‘An opportunity to start again’

The English devolution white paper states that areas in which services are provided by both county and district councils will instead be served by single-tier authorities, covering populations of about 500,000.

About two thirds of England’s councils serving 20 million people already operate under this model.

The government says reorganisation should simplify services for residents and strengthen the way councils work.

Town halls were invited to submit their restructure proposals to the government, with plans for Surrey, Essex, Hampshire, Norfolk and Suffolk approved.

In Surrey, Dorking and Horley MP Chris Coghlan said he hoped reorganisation “gives an opportunity, if done correctly, to start again with the organisational culture”.

The authority has a particularly poor SEND legacy marked by rising deficits, disputes with families over EHCPs and even a temporary freeze of communication with MPs over individual cases. In 2024, Tim Oliver, the council leader, formally apologised to families for historical failings.

Surrey will be split into two large unitary authorities, East Surrey and West Surrey, from April next year.

Surrey to be split into West Surrey and East Surrey

But Coghlan, a Liberal Democrat, said the two councils might have very different beginnings, as West Surrey will inherit Woking’s��Դǰ��ǳܲ� £2.16 billion debt.

“They’re going to be pretty much bankrupt from day one,” Coghlan warned. “If it starts off with underfunding, that has to become an excuse to cut corners.”

Speaking in a Parliament backbench business debate, Al Pinkerton, the Liberal Democrat MP for Surrey Heath, agreed there were “enormous risks” surrounding the restructure.

“It could be a council in section 114 special economic measures from the moment of its creation. Given the level of need that I see described in my inbox, I am incredibly concerned that more parents and more generations of children will be let down.”

Surrey’s proposal for two unitaries said it would work with the DfE to ensure that pressure is “split equitably between authorities to avoid any one authority being disproportionately disadvantaged”.

The smaller the better?

Hampshire is being split into four unitary authorities, while the Isle of Wight will remain independent.

Proposals submitted to ministers by Hampshire said smaller councils would help “develop consistent and enhanced educational offers across all unitaries driven by their local needs”, with inclusion as a “key focus”.

A similar plan for Essex, which will split into five authorities, said the model “will create focused councils” that “support national priorities” of SEND and EHCP reform.

Essex to be split into five unitary authorities

In Suffolk, the county council will be split into three unitaries, despite its leadership arguing this could create a “substantial risk” to the delivery of services.

A failed bid to retain a single council argued fragmenting children’s and SEND services would “weaken triage systems, delay interventions and reduce the quality and consistency of support for vulnerable children and families”.

The alternative of three unitary authorities, which won government backing, said the move could save about £25.7 million a year.

A mixed picture

But examples of recent restructures, such as Northamptonshire and Cumbria, do not present a clear picture on whether things improve for SEND.

Northamptonshire split into North Northamptonshire and West Northamptonshire in 2021. Its last SEND inspection report, carried out in 2017, found “significant weaknesses”.

Since splitting, Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission told both councils in 2024 that they have “widespread and systemic failings”.

But a spokesperson for West Northamptonshire said its unitary status “has provided clearer accountability, stronger local oversight and more direct control over SEND commissioning and improvement planning”.

In 2023, Cumbria split into Cumberland Council and Westmorland and Furness Council. While their SEND services had a more mixed picture of strengths and weaknesses, the inspectorates gave Cumberland and Westmorland and Furness their ‘middle’��rating.

Coghlan suggested SEND reforms might not materialise unless the “appalling organisational cultures” of local government were addressed.

But Damian Hinds, the MP for East Hampshire and a former education secretary and schools minister, suggested that “it’s always possible that a great deal may change” but a “great deal may not change very much”.

“For the most part, it will be those same people who will be in a new employer set-up, albeit with a different employer and perhaps a different physical place.”

‘A risk of distraction’

Hinds, who is against the reorganisation, said he thought plans would make “the government’s fiscal task harder”.

While areas including Portsmouth, Southampton and Winchester have existing offices, the centre for the new North Hampshire council has virtually no infrastructure.

“Whenever you reorganise anything, there is a cost to that, and in this case, you’re going to need to set up new infrastructure.”

Local government experts Mark Lloyd and Jeremy Cooper wrote for Impower, a management consultancy, that “amongst the risks, arguably the biggest is distraction”.

“It is a common view that these core services can get limited focus before and in the first years of reorganisation. Each of these core services have major transformation expected – from [the] adult social care review to the imminent SEND reform.

“Councils involved in [reorganisation] are going to have to fight hard to find the bandwidth to deliver the changes required.”

Further risks

The restructuring of ICBs could pose further risk. As of this month, 12 boards will be abolished and six created, with an up to 50 per cent reduction in staff.

The schools white paper pledges DfE and Department for Health and Social Care “will work closely together and with areas to ensure that these changes do not disrupt or deprioritise the fulfilment of their statutory duties around SEND”.

But an anonymous council source suggested “heads aren’t fully in the reform plan when they 100 per cent need to be”, because of ICB merger talks.

The Liberal Democrats are calling on the government to put “robust safeguards” in place to ensure implementation remains on track.
Caroline Voaden, the party’s schools spokesperson, said: “While streamlining local government has its merits, it must not become a distraction from the urgent delivery of SEND reforms.”