Image © Monkey Business Images/Shutterstock
The report, commissioned by the County Councils Network and the Local Government Association, shows that councils are projected to spend £12bn on services for children with special needs and disabilities by 2026, up from £4bn a decade ago.
However, despite rapidly rising expenditure, local authorities face a £3.2bn shortfall in the face of ever-increasing demand for SEND services, which is expected to rise to £5bn in two years’ time.
Deficits are currently being kept off councils’ balance sheets, but if they were to be placed onto their accounts, one in four councils surveyed for the research said that they would be insolvent within a year, and a further quarter said they would be bust within three.
“It is not hyperbole to say that it is becoming increasingly clear that SEND represents an existential threat to the financial sustainability of local government,” the report said.
It found “little evidence” that outcomes for children with SEND and families’ day-to-day experiences of the system had improved, in spite of increased spending.
The report paints a picture of a system at breaking point which creates “perverse incentives” to shift responsibility between public bodies and inadvertently encourages adversarial relationships between local authorities and parents.
Tim Oliver, chair of the CCN, said the weaknesses revealed in the report put the case for wholesale reform beyond doubt.
“Parents often feel they struggle to access schools’ services, lack the capacity to support pupils, and councils have seen a doubling in needs over the last ten years, and have amassed deficits that threaten their financial solvency,” he said.
“Most importantly, education outcomes and employment opportunities have not improved for children with SEND.”
He said the government should build on the report’s recommendations to ensure change was brought about within the next 18 months.
Local Government Association chair Louise Gittins said reform had to be accompanied by “adequate and sustainable” funding.
“For too long, the current system has failed children with SEND and left parents struggling to ensure their child gets the support they desperately need,” she said.
“As set out in our Local Government White Paper, we are calling for action which builds new capacity and creates inclusion in mainstream settings, supported by adequate and sustainable long-term funding, and the writing off of councils’ high needs deficits.”
CIPFA said the report was evidence that the SEND system was “broken”, and that comprehensive reform could no longer be avoided.
“Outcomes have not improved since landmark reforms in 2014, and local authorities are facing a financial cliff edge which puts all other council services at risk,” said CIPFA’s social care policy advisor Dr William Burns.
The key financial challenges facing the sector included a funding shortfall, ineffective distribution of funds, and the risk of widespread insolvency, he said.
“SEND is one of the most urgent short-term pressures that local authorities face… far-reaching reform is now unavoidable.”
The current approach was “financially reckless” and did not provide benefit to communities, families, councils or schools.
“CIPFA calls on the new government to act urgently to overhaul the system, address the shortfall in funding, change the system of ringfencing and produce an exit strategy on how local authority SEND deficits can be overcome,” said Dr Burns.
Education secretary Bridget Phillipson said the system was in need of long-term renewal.
“This diagnosis is damning: educational outcomes for children with SEND are flatlining after years when councils and parents have been pitted against each other,” she said.
“This government will take a different approach, whether it’s transforming the early years to intervene earlier and deliver better outcomes for children, or launching our curriculum and assessment review to put high and rising standards and inclusion together at the heart of every school.”
