Soaring costs of SEND putting Wokingham Council under strain
Rising demand for SEND support and delayed school projects drive budget overspend and mounting financial pressures
The financial pressure on Wokingham Borough Council is mounting due to the escalating costs of providing education for children with special needs.
This year, it is estimated that around £9.7 million will be spent on providing teaching to children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) in the borough, which covers Wokingham, Woodley, Earley and surrounding villages.
The council has the responsibility to organise education for children with special needs by devising Education Health and Care Plans (EHCPs), which lays out what support a child needs.
Additionally, approximately £3 million is spent on school transport for SEND pupils, either to their schools or alternative education provision.
Council officials are predicting an overspend on the 2025/26 budget due to increasing costs and demand.
The challenges were discussed at a meeting of the council’s community and corporate overview and scrutiny committee on October 6.
Susan Parsonage, the chief executive of the council, stated that councils are struggling to provide the support on its own, requiring the commissioning of private education services.
She said: “The parents have lost trust in what can be delivered in terms of different areas around SEN."
Councillor Marie-Louise Weighill (Labour, Norreys) said: “There is this kind of structural nightmarish financial situation where there is this deficit which seems to kind of grow, we won’t say exponentially, because that’s too frightening, but it has grown at an enormous rate.”
She then argued that the deficit and the nature of SEND provision provided should be treated as separate issues.
While the council has plans alongside the Department for Education for two new SEND schools in the borough, it was implied that these projects have been delayed.
The committee monitors the council’s budget on a quarterly basis.
The actual amount of the overspend on SEND education will only be known once the spend for Q4 of 2025/26 is released after March next year.