Council facing £100m school funding deficit

Andrew Reid wrote to the new government asking for increased funding

A local education authority is predicting its reserve fund that helps finance special needs schooling will decrease to a deficit of £101.2m during 2024-25.

Conservative-run Suffolk County Council said it was forecasting a £47.1m overspend against its current Dedicated Schools Grant Reserve (DSG) and the costs were related to provision for children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).

The DSG is funding from the government that is ringfenced for spending on schools and education, but the council said the funding model was "unsustainable".

A source for the Labour government said it would "fall to Labour to take the difficult decisions needed to clean up the Tories’ mess".

Earlier this year an extra £9.1m was signed off by the council for SEND funding over the next three years, with an aim to improve the provision for Education, Health and Care Plans.

It followed a critical Ofsted report about the county's provision for SEND children, which saw the council apologise to parents and led to a series of resignations.

The council says there was actually an underspend of £1.2m in the general schools funding but an overspend of £48.3m in the "high needs block" which funds SEND educational placements.

This, in addition to previous overspends, creates the overall DSG reserve deficit of £101.2m.

The council says there are rising costs in SEND and home to school transport

Andrew Reid, Cabinet Member for Education and SEND, said: “Suffolk County Council is seeing an increase in demand within education services which is not being met by the same level of increase in funding. This is reflected across other local authorities.

“An element of the government’s funding formula is based on historic figures from 2017 to 2018 and, therefore, does not consider current pupil numbers and predicted growth.

“This funding model – and the associated debt the council carries - is unsustainable and cannot continue. We are urging the new [Labour] government to address this deficit.”

'Trail of devastation'

A Labour government source said: “The Conservatives left behind a £22bn black hole in the public finances and a trail of devastation across education.

“We will take no lectures from the Tories, who created a SEND system that is ‘lose, lose, lose’ in the words of their last education secretary.

“This Labour government is determined to grip the problems in SEND and restore parents’ trust that their child will get the support they need.

“It will once again fall to Labour to take the difficult decisions needed to clean up the Tories’ mess, fix our foundations and rebuild Britain.”

Councils are allowed to maintain this negative balance in school reserves, as opposed to needing to maintain a balanced overall budget.

The funds do however need to be found, which could involve the council borrowing money to cover the costs.

The interest on this loan could cost the authority £4.1m.

The council has an overall budget of £752.8m for 2024-25.