Suffolk SEND lead welcomes calls for system reform
It comes after a report found the system was not delivering better outcomes for children and young people.
Last updated 25th Oct 2024
One of Suffolk’s lead councillors has welcomed calls for the reform of the whole special needs education system after a new report was published.
The National Audit Office (NAO) published a report yesterday on the support available for children and young people with special educational needs (SEN) across the country.
It concluded the system was not delivering better outcomes for children and young people, was financially unsustainable and in need urgent need of a wholesale reform.
In Suffolk, SEN support has been a topic of controversy, with Suffolk County Council being the subject of multiple reports outlining its failure to deliver the service and prompting leaders to commit several multi-million-pound rounds of investment over the coming years.
One of the report’s main focuses was the lack of funding local authorities, such as Suffolk County Council, received when compared to growing demand.
Cllr Andrew Reid, the council’s lead for the service, said: “We welcome this report. The extent of challenges facing local authorities delivering SEND services should be headline news.
“In Suffolk, improving the way we deliver SEND provision is our number one priority and we continue to invest millions into getting it right.
“However, we operate within a broken and crumbling national system. The system is unsustainable without urgent whole-system reform and investment.
“The funding we receive has not kept pace with demand, so the system, including our remarkable schools and NHS colleagues, is under enormous strain. We continue to lobby Government on the need for reform and await next week’s budget.”
As it stands, through what is known as ‘statutory override’, local authorities can overspend on the Government’s Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) until March 2026 without it affecting their own books, at which point they will have to cover the shortfall through their own reserves.
In Suffolk, the latest estimates have the council overspending on the DSG reserve by £101.2 million by the end of this financial year, against a total declining reserves pot of £157.9 million — this means the council’s saved-up money would go down by close to 65 per cent at current pace.
Elsewhere in the country, NAO warned, as many as 43 per cent of local authorities could be at risk of issuing a section 114 notice, effectively declaring bankruptcy, if nothing was done by the deadline.
One of the report’s recommendations is for the Government to outline an urgent plan to ensure councils can remain afloat once this statutory override is up.
Jack Abbott, the MP for Ipswich, said fixing a system made worse by the previous Government would ‘require huge, complex reform’ with ‘no magic wand or overnight fix’.
He added: “The new Government has started making long overdue changes, putting SEND at the heart of the Department for Education’s policymaking. It is right to prioritise early identification and intervention and I am pleased the Government is taking a far more holistic view of SEND.
“We have to be honest and say that after years of damage, it will take time for the lived experiences of children and young people to improve, but I am unflinchingly committed to delivering the support and the justice, that families need and deserve.”
Other recommendations made by the report included using evidence better, identifying efficiencies, improving incentives and developing a vision and long-term plan for inclusivity.
Commenting on the report, the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL), a trade union representing 4,000,000 young people, welcomed the recommendations.
Pepe Di’lasio, the union’s general secretary, said: “This report confirms what everyone working in education is only too aware of – that the system for supporting pupils with special educational needs is at crisis point.
“Funding has simply not kept pace with rising demand and is wholly insufficient to meet needs. This is resulting in delays in assessment and the provision of support to the most vulnerable children.
“There are also not enough places in special schools to meet demand and commissioned place funding has remained static for more than a decade.”