Extra £22m could be spent on special needs schooling

Lincolnshire County Council said demand for special needs schooling was rising

A further £22m could be spent on special needs education (Send) in Lincolnshire due to a rise in demand for places.

Lincolnshire County Council said there had been an increase in the number of young people requiring assistance in the region.

The authority told the BBC it expected to need a further 700 Send places over the next three years.

A meeting heard many of the county's mainstream schools were unable to provide specialist Send support, meaning the council was having to pay to use the private sector.

Mark Popplewell, strategic finance leader for children's services at the county council, told the meeting on 2 October there had been an increase in the number of pupils with complex needs at schools not able to support them.

"This is related to the shortage of special schools in the county, so we're having to use the specialist market to provide additional support, which comes with extra costs," he added.

Lincolnshire currently has 17 special and five alternative provision state-funded schools.

Martin Smith, the council's assistant director for education, said there was a ring-fenced budget of £141m for Send provision and it had already committed more than £101 to to improve and extend it, creating 500 additional spaces.

However, he told the BBC: "Despite the recent expansion of 12 local special schools, forecasts suggest that Lincolnshire will need around 700 further special school places within the next three years to meet the ever-increasing demand for support."

'Doing nothing not an option'

Mr Popplewell told the meeting the authority was looking at ways it could reduce costs and make efficiency savings.

He described the £22m deficit as "quite significant in terms of what is affordable for local government finances".

However, he added: "Doing nothing is not an option. This should be something which the government should be looking at, but it's also important that we look for solutions on a local level."

In June, council leader Sean Matthews warned of cuts to services in a bid to save more than £25m in the next financial year.

The BBC has contacted the Department for Education for a comment.

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