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(UK) Bristol Council facing bankruptcy over special education costs

April 9, 2024, Bristal Live: Bristol City Council could face bankruptcy if special needs education reforms go wrong

Neither the mayor nor cabinet member responsible turned up to a scrutiny session to face questions

                  

SW England

Bristol City Council could effectively go bankrupt if controversial reforms to special needs education are not rolled out. The government has agreed to write off millions of pounds from the council’s budget, on strict conditions which if they’re not followed, could prove catastrophic.


Over the past decade the demand for extra support for children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) has grown, across the country and in Bristol. In 2014 the government gave councils legal responsibility for providing this support, but not the extra funding to do so.


Now the council is effectively £56 million overdrawn in its education budget, and this deficit is expected to rise to £114 million [$144M] by 2028. The Department for Education has agreed to write off £54 million [$68M] of the deficit, as long as the council follows strict rules on reforming SEND support.


Council bosses faced questions about the Safety Valve SEND bailout programme, during a meeting of the overview and scrutiny management board on Monday, April 8. Leading politicians responsible for deciding to sign up to the programme were invited to attend, but did not turn up.


Stephen Peacock, the chief executive of the council, said: “It’s one of our biggest issues. If we get this wrong, we’ll be effectively bankrupt, and so will 50 other places. So we have to have a go at this.”


Councils usually aren’t legally allowed to have budget deficits carried over each year. But they were given special permission to do so, due to the SEND funding crisis, until March 2026. If Bristol is kicked off the bailout programme, and this permission isn’t extended, then the consequences could affect everybody living in the city — as the council will run out of money.


If this happened, the council would have to make cuts to its services equivalent to just under a fifth of its day-to-day budget. And if that wasn’t possible, council bosses would issue a Section 114 notice, effectively declaring bankruptcy, as recently happened

in Birmingham and Nottingham.


Conservative Councillor Geoff Gollop said: “There are so many things that are confusing and unclear. The deficit could potentially wipe out the whole of the authority’s reserves, and more. There’s example after example after example of wrong decisions, and we’ve heard from parents of the trauma they’ve been through. How can we be convinced that this is now right?


“My goodness, the potential for this going wrong could result effectively in bankruptcy for the authority. I don’t see enough evidence that we’re highlighting this, perhaps because it’s confidential and we’re not allowed to. But it seems to me it’s in the public interest that we know what those risks are.”


One reason the bailout programme is so controversial is because the council applied to the Department for Education for funding support in secret. The application was made in January, but only made public in March. Marvin Rees, the mayor, previously said the government ordered the council to keep its application secret, which was later denied by the Department for Education.


Mr Peacock said: “The Department for Education made a mistake. They have acknowledged that to us. They gave us clear instructions that the information was strictly under embargo. They then responded to a request that was made, to say that it wasn’t.


“They’ve acknowledged that was a mistake, and the mayor is going to speak to the relevant officials tomorrow, because clearly this has caused some distress. We followed the advice and the request given to us by the DfE.


“We know they said something different when asked, and that was a mistake in their department, which they’ve acknowledged to us and which is why the mayor is speaking to them tomorrow. I’m sure the mayor will then want to make a further comment.”


Neither the mayor nor the cabinet member for education, Labour Cllr Asher Craig, attended the scrutiny session to answer questions. Their absence was criticised by councillors, particularly as both politicians will not be standing for re-election in May, so will not have to deal with the consequences of their decisions.


Green Cllr Tony Dyer, chair of the scrutiny board, said: “It’s disappointing that we do not have any members of the cabinet attending scrutiny today. It’s a shame that there are none of the key politicians involved in making these decisions here. They’ve left it to officers to answer questions that really should be answered by politicians.”


Much of the plan to cut the ballooning spending in the education budget rests on two plans: keeping SEND pupils in mainstream schools for longer, and building new special school places within Bristol. Often children have to be sent outside of the city to incredibly expensive places in independent schools, with the costs picked up by the taxpayer.


But there are major question marks over whether the council will be able to build a new special school in time. The school is planned for Southmead, although it depends on getting £28 million [$28M] from the government, which hasn’t committed to providing the funding. . . .


Labour Cllr Tim Rippington said: “Bristol has been failing on this for a long time. 13 years ago my son had to go to an out-of-county placement because there weren’t enough special needs schools in Bristol. This has been a very long term problem that we haven’t addressed.


“I do think it says something about the political debate in our city that so many people were willing to disbelieve what our council officers said about the secrecy behind this scheme, and instead were willing to believe the word of the current Westminster government, which to be honest doesn’t have the best reputation for telling the truth at the moment.


“The government has allowed this funding crisis to develop across the country. This isn’t a Bristol-specific thing at all. The Safety Valve is an attempt by the government to do the absolute minimum possible to address the situation.”

 

 



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