(UK) Slough: Council faces $25M special ed deficit; 'we've got more demand'

May 8, 2025, Slough Observer: Slough council warns head teachers of SEND funding crisis

Near London

Demand for education health and care plans (EHCPs) – which set out what a council needs to do to meet a child’s special educational needs – is increasing, while a backlog in overdue assessments is close to being cleared by Slough Borough Council.

But the increased demand means the council ‘will soon not have sufficient local provision’ for the number children needing support – and faces being £19 million short of what it needs.

The headteachers were told that the number of applications for EHCPs is increasing beyond what the ‘high needs block’ of Slough schools’ government grant funding will cover.

The cost of providing special educational needs services is also rising.

On top of that, Slough Borough Council is on course to clear an historic backlog of EHCP assessments, meaning there will be more people entitled to support.

Councillors had been told in April that a backlog of 200 overdue EHCP applications had been cut to 105, and that this is expected to be cleared by mid-June.

The overall increased demand means the high needs block faces a deficit of £19 million by the 2026/27 financial year.

Neil Hoskinson, the council’s associate director of education, said: “The demand for plans is going up all the time at a faster rate than the high needs bloc is increasing.

“We’ve got more demand, more plans being issued and they’re costing more per plan.”

However he said the council should celebrate being on course to clear its backlog of overdue EHCPs as it means ‘young people getting the support they should be getting’.

Marish Academy Trust headteacher Gill Denham said that her school was facing a ‘huge increase in the number of children with EHCPs’.

She said: “I had 36 out of 38 requests this year approved whereas last year I had no application approved for six months at all – they were just stuck in the system.”

Mrs Denham asked whether there would be enough places for children not suited to mainstream education.

Arbour Vale school principal Neil Sykes also asked if the council had a plan to accommodate all the children needing specialist school places in September this year.