Fresh fears Bristol Council could be declared bankrupt

The nominee for Bristol City Council possible next leader fears plans to meet the SEND budget deficient might not be 'deliverable'

Bristol City Council's plan to balance its books when it comes to supporting children with additional needs could exceed the time and money currently proposed.

If the authority misses its targets for children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), the council 'will be effectively bankrupt'.

During an election debate on BBC Radio Bristol's John Darvall programme, Green councillor Tony Dyer said he was doubtful a Safety Valve programme, which includes more school place for SEND children, would be delivered on time.

"Our concerns for this are the timeframes are very tight. We think it's going to take longer to deliver that extra provision," he said.

Tony Dyer says the timeframe is 'very tight'

"We need to make sure what we have agreed to is deliverable. If you agree to something that's not deliverable, it's not going to work."

The Department for Education agreed to write off £54 million of the council's deficit, as long as the authority followed strict rules on reforming SEND support.

A Safety Valve programme was then drawn up, including keeping SEND pupils in mainstream schools for longer, and building new special school places within Bristol.

Lucy, whose son as autism, has not been allocated a school place for this academic year.

Talking to BBC Radio she said: "My autistic son has not being able to attend school this year due to unmet needs in his educational setting.

"It's likely my son will miss this academic year of schooling, parents are having to engage legal representation in order to force Bristol City Council to perform their legal duties and children are being excluded for education while the council plays games trying to disincentives parents from pursuing an assessment."

'Really difficult'

Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care Helen Holland said the council was doing "its best" but they had to prioritise the most "urgent cases".

"We just haven't had the solution from government," she said. "We are trying our best to prioritise cases and to make sure we are meeting those in most urgent need."

Conservative councillor Geoff Gollop said he was embarrassed at how parents and children have been treated within the SEND community.

Pupils are often sent outside of Bristol for care and this causes the cost of support to soar, said Mr Gollop.

He called for more SEND places to be made available in Bristol.

Leader of the Liberal Democrats said it was a "really difficult" subject and parties needed to work together to solve the crisis.

Stephen Peacock, the chief executive of the council, previously said: “It’s one of our biggest issues. If we get this wrong, we’ll be effectively bankrupt, and so will 50 other places. So we have to have a go at this.”

Adult and children social care accounts for 60% of the council's entire budget.