(UK) Gloucestershire: $18M deficit; high cost of special needs students

May 23, 2022, Gloucestershire Live: Gloucestershire children with special educational needs placed more than 250 miles away https://www.gloucestershirelive.co.uk/news/gloucester-news/gloucestershire-children-special-educational-needs-7102540

SW England

More than 300 Gloucestershire children with special educational needs are placed in other local authority areas with some being 256 miles away. A recent investigation by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism also shows the county had forecasted a £18,540,000 [$23M] deficit in dedicated school grants funding by the end of 2021/22. Their investigation shows that, as of December 2021, there were a total of 4,806 children with an education, health and care plan in the county. And it found that some 311 Gloucestershire children are placed in other local authorities with the furthest 255.96 miles away in Prudhoe in Northumberland. Some 53 children are placed over 20 miles away from the county. And there are also 249 children placed in Gloucestershire from other local authority areas. Opposition councillors at Gloucestershire County Council say they are incredibly worried about the shortfall in funding and the impact far away placements have on children. Councillor Linda Cohen (LD, Wotton-under-Edge), Liberal Democrat spokesperson for education, said sending residents hundreds of miles away to receive an education away from support networks at home is appalling for the individual. She said: “The overspend in special educational needs is a long running issue and therefore needs a long-term fix. It is incredibly worrying to see reports of this increasing by nearly £5 million [$6.3M] in just one year, and this administration will need to explain how it plans to bring this shortfall under control without impacting on the education of our most vulnerable young people. “Further reports of Gloucestershire residents being sent more than 100 miles away to receive an education, away from support networks at home, are appalling for the individual and terrible value for money for the taxpayer. Until we start investing in enough excellent quality local provision we will never get a handle on our budgets.”… Gloucestershire County Council’s economy, education and skills cabinet member Philip Robinson (C, Mitcheldean) said there is an increasing need in the county and across the UK for special school places. He said this means children sometimes have to go to schools out of the county or to independent schools when there aren’t places available locally…. "We have already increased the capacity of existing special schools and a new £9.5m [$12M] special school, Brook Academy, will open in September 2022. We are also proposing to build a new 60-place special school in Stroud so more places are available in the future.”

“We will continue to work closely with the Schools Forum to manage the increasing demands upon the high needs budget, to make sure children and young people continue to get the support they need.”

The number of children and young people requiring support has been rising nationally for over five years. In January 2018, 1.9% of the school population was in receipt of support from an education health and care plan. This had risen to 2.6% by January 2021. This trend has been replicated in Gloucestershire: 1.9% in January 2018, 2.5% in January 2021 and 2.8% in January 2022, and is based on the most current nationally reported data. In January 2018, we were supporting 3,290 children with an EHCP. And Gloucestershire County Council is currently supporting 5,004.