(UK) Hants: Council spends $123M on private SPED places; $345M over last 4 yrs
- The end of childhood
- Aug 22
- 2 min read
Aug 7, 2025, Basingstoke Gazette: Council spending on private school SEND places more than doubles to £92m [$123M]
The cost of providing special educational needs places in private and specialist schools ha
s more than doubled.
Hampshire County Council’s annual spending topped £92.83m in the year 2024/25, a freedom of information request by the Local Democracy Reporting Service found.
This is a 120 per cent increase from the £42m [$56M] spending in 2021/22.
Councils across the country are lobbying the government to reform the system and increase funding towards SEND.
Across the last four years, Hampshire has paid out £257m [$345M], including £67.89m [$91M] in 2023/24 and £54.39m [$73M] in 2022/23
The authority has been expanding its in-house provisions across schools it runs ins a bid to stop relying on private schools and specialist SEND school placements.
It has created 745 specialist places in its own specialist schools and mainstream schools in the last five years. This includes an extra 78 placements across six schools set to start in September.
The additional spaces are required to meet the growing demand for special education, which is driven by an increase in education, health, and care plans (EHCPs).
There are 18,581 children on EHCPs as of this year. This number is projected to double by 2030/31.
This would cost the council £5.5m [$7.4M] if it kept using private placements.
The county council is facing a £201m [$270M] deficit in its ring-fenced education-only Dedicated Schools Grant, with projections that this will hit £300m [$402M] by 2026/27.
The council may need to issue a Section 114 notice and initiate discussions with the government regarding its financial position.
An investigation by The Guardian revealed that nationally, SEND deficits currently total £3.4billion [$4.7B] and are projected to reach £5.2billion [$7B]within the next year.
Comments