Children from Barnsley sent as far as Plymouth for specialist school as costs hit £22m
450 children are currently having to go outside Barnsley borough to access specialist education
Young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) in Barnsley are being placed as far away as Plymouth due to a shortage of local provision, new figures reveal.
A Freedom of Information request by the local democracy reporting service shows that Barnsley Council spent more than £22m on out-of-borough placements in 2023/24 – up from £12.1m in 2019/20. The number of children sent outside the borough has also risen sharply over the same period, from 262 to 450.
Placements have ranged from nearby councils such as Sheffield and Wakefield to much further afield. Some families have faced children being sent to Plymouth, roughly 300 miles away – a journey of more than five hours by car or around six hours by train.
Most of the costs went on placement fees (£20.1m in 2023/24), but more than £2m was also spent on transport for children travelling to schools outside Barnsley.
The number of children identified with SEND has been rising across England, but many councils, including Barnsley, say they do not have enough specialist provision to meet demand.
While Barnsley has been investing in new local places, the pace has not kept up with need. Some pupils also require highly specialist support, for example, for autism, behavioural needs or medical conditions, that is not available within the borough.
Councillor Ashley Peace, cabinet spokesperson for children’s services, told the local democracy reporting service that although the authority seeks to meet children’s needs, sometimes the right support isn’t available locally.
Cllr Peace said: “Our ambition in Barnsley is for all children, wherever possible, to be educated in borough, and we work alongside our education partners through the Barnsley Schools Alliance to meet need locally.
“All areas are facing significant increases in demand for specialist places and, dependent on need, we always seek to find a provider who meets that need. Unfortunately, those providers aren’t always close. We do everything we can to ensure that all safeguarding protocols are followed as the safety of children is of paramount importance to us.
“We’re working hard as part of our sufficiency strategy to secure more local places for our children and have created additional places over recent years, with plans underway to further expand provision.”
Nationally, councils report that high-needs budgets are under pressure, with many running deficits. Campaigners warn that long-distance placements can leave families facing disruption, strain and isolation, while children risk losing vital links to their community.
Barnsley is currently operating under a “Safety Valve” agreement with the Department for Education, aimed at tackling its high-needs deficit.
The deal commits the council to reducing reliance on costly independent and out-of-borough placements by creating more SEND provision locally and encouraging mainstream schools to be more inclusive.
In return, the government is providing more than £22m in additional funding between 2022 and 2027, with the aim of eliminating Barnsley’s cumulative deficit by 2026–27.
The plan includes commissioning new local places, working with parents to transition pupils back into in-borough schools where suitable, and reviewing alternative provision and notional SEND budgets. Progress is monitored by the DfE three times a year.