Prolonged uncertainty in the wake of the Spending Review over the handling of mounting high needs deficits is causing “massive concerns” among local authorities, the government has been told.
The government will face difficult trade-offs if it attempts to protect schools and colleges from pending education cuts, with some areas being “squeezed out entirely”, a leading think-tank has...
Councils have warned they face financial catastrophe in a year’s time unless the government takes action to remove “unmanageable” high-needs deficits from their balance sheets.
Interventions by CIPFA and the Education Policy Institute lay bare the issues facing the English system of support for children with special educational needs and disabilities, and suggest ways to...
The crisis in support for children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) risks creating a “lost generation” as well as posing an existential financial threat for local authorities,...
Soaring costs for special needs provision are set to wipe out any potential for school savings on the back of declining pupil numbers, according to a report.
The local government sector has welcomed an injection of £740m to boost the number of specialist places in mainstream schools but said it must be accompanied by action to write off councils’ “...
More than half of multi-academy trusts see themselves as “financially vulnerable”, with almost four in five having been forced to dip into reserves over the last year to cover costs.
Underwriting overspends in the high needs block would prevent cuts by stabilising council finances and should be considered by the government in its Budget, the Education Policy Institute has said.
Council-funded schools in England are “struggling to finance the basics” and will need £12.2bn of additional funding in 2024-25 to help reverse real-terms cuts to their core funding and meet other...
A proposed real-terms cut to capital budgets risks exacerbating school maintenance backlogs and shows the government does “not care about the state of school buildings”, a union leader has said.
The government will set the “most generous bar” when funding the costs of contingency and reconstruction works for schools affected by RAAC, a senior official has said.
Rishi Sunak cut funding for rebuilding schools with dangerous concrete construction while chancellor despite warnings of “a critical risk to life”, a former permanent secretary has claimed.
Bristol City Council could be forced to issue a section 114 notice in future years if it is unable to cut its dedicated schools grant deficit, a senior officer has warned.
Plans to allocate £2.5bn of funding to improve school and college buildings and support more school places fall well short of the sector’s needs after a decade of underinvestment, leaders have said.
London mayor Sadiq Khan has pledged £130m of funding to provide free school meals for every primary school child in 2023-24 to support families through the cost-of-living crisis.
