(UK) Norfolk: Council faces $234M in SPED debt next year; "increasingly complex needs"
- The end of childhood
- Aug 6
- 3 min read
Aug 4, 2025, DissMercury: Norfolk County Council pays £7m [$9.3M] a year interest on SEND debt
E. England
Norfolk's biggest council is spending an eyewatering £7m [$9.3M] a year on interest payments to service debt racked up supporting children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).
Norfolk County Council leaders say the spending - equivalent to about half the cost of a new primary school - is not sustainable and is taking funding away from frontline services and deepening cuts in other departments.
The authority's total overspend for SEND is expected to hit £183m [$243M] next year, with the council borrowing money to cover the shortfall.
The funding is used to provide extra resources, such as staffing and transport for 29,000 children in the county who have been adjudged to have special educational needs.
The council is required by law to pay for these extra measures. But its leaders say central government has failed to create an adequately funded system.
Andrew Jamieson, the council's deputy leader and cabinet member for finance, said: "The interest on the money that we are having to use to pay for that overspend is about £7m [$9.3M] a year.
"It's a significant cost to the council which could be used for other services. I don't think it's sustainable."
The council has seen a surge in demand for SEND support and increasingly complex needs among the youngsters who need that help.
That has put the council's coffers under strain.
One area of funding is the £42m [$56M] the authority spends to get SEND children to and from the schools best suited to their needs.
Under the current system, the authority administers what is known as the Dedicated Schools Grant on behalf of the government to support children with SEND.
But the money the council spends far outstrips what it gets from Whitehall, so it has to borrow cash to cover the costs. This in turn generates interest payments which add millions more to the debt.
The authority has already announced it will need to find £41.5m savings to set a balanced budget for next year.
Departments have been challenged to find cuts to help meet this target, including the children's services department - which is responsible for SEND issues - which has been asked to identify £15m of savings.
Maxine Webb, leader of the Independent Progressive group at County Hall, said: "It's absurd to have to spend a whopping £7m a year just to have the debt sitting there while in the next breath the council is looking to shave £15m [$20] from the children's services budget next year.
"It's literally money for nothing and, at a time when spending, especially on SEND, is under so much scrutiny.
"We wouldn't be in this mess if governments, both previous and current, had adequately funded the support schools and children need.
"Government needs to wipe the debts and invest in our young people by properly funding local authorities to do their job."
Councils have been permitted to keep the high-needs deficits off their balance sheets, through a statutory override.
That was due to end next April, potentially pushing scores of councils across the country to to brink of bankruptcy.
While the government agreed the override will continue for another two years - to April 2028 - local government leaders want a long-term solution.
Mr Jamieson said: "That is simply kicking it down the road and that is not a sustainable option."
The council has built new special schools, including in Easton, Fakenham and Great Yarmouth to help bring down costs.
It is also opening a string of specialist resource bases at mainstream schools, so youngsters can get support nearer to their homes.
But plans for further new special schools for Great Yarmouth and Downham Market, to take in 270 pupils are in limbo because the government has yet to commit to them.
The government has said it plans to publish a white paper in the autumn detailing how it will reform support for SEND.
That could see changes to the system of education health and care plans - which set out the specialist support a young person requires for their needs.
Parents and charities fear the government is planning to remove or dilute the legal rights and protections for SEND children.
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