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DfE to target £20m SEND capital funding at councils with ‘safety valve’ bailout deals

Around a third of Department for Education funding linked to Covid will be from underspends or existing budgets, according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies.

Up to £20 million from a £300 million capital fund to provide more school places for children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) will be targeted at councils that have agreed to cost-cutting measures in exchange for deficit bailouts.

The Department for Education has today re-announced a capital funding injection announced at last year’s spending review, and said that £280 million will be allocated to councils based on estimates for growth in the high needs pupil population.

The remaining £20 million will be used to support the government’s “safety valve” intervention programme, which provides strings-attached bailouts to councils with large school budget deficits, providing they agree to make savings, including in their SEND spending.

The DfE said today that the capital funding could be used to create new places in schools, academies, colleges and early years settings for pupils with SEND or who require alternative provision.

This could be done by improving existing provision to create “modern, fit-for-purpose spaces suited to a wider range of pupil needs”, the DfE said.

Or alternatively it could be used to contribute to the cost of creating a whole new special school, or “by improving accessibility, such as installing ramps, handrails or ceiling hoists”.

SEND capital cash based on growth estimates

Councils will receive their share of the £280 million based on their “estimated share of future growth in the high needs pupil population”, with a “minimum funding floor” to ensure every LA gets at least £500,000.

The estimates will be reached using Office for National Statistics population projections and data on education, health and care plans (EHCPs).

The DfE will also take into account data on “funding already being provided in the form of new special and alternative provision free schools”, it said.

The government has then said that “up to” £20 million will be used to support high needs capital projects in “a small number of the local authorities facing the highest dedicated schools grant deficits”.

SEND funding councils
Vicky Ford MP

Schools Week reported last month that five councils had been told to cut SEND spending and reform services in exchange for government bailouts totalling almost £100 million to fill black holes in their budgets.

Similar agreements are expected to be reached with other local authorities with high deficits as part of the new programme.

Children’s minister Vicky Ford said the additional capital investment would “enable local authorities to invest more in creating excellent school places or enhancing existing provision so that pupils with additional needs and disabilities get the same opportunities as any other”.

 

How much each council will get

The DfE has published a breakdown of the £280 million and how much each council will receive. This does not include any future allocations from the £20 million for “safety valve” councils.

ENGLAND £280,000,000
NORTH EAST £11,670,730
Darlington £500,000
Durham £2,354,865
Gateshead £1,343,333
Hartlepool £500,000
Middlesbrough £1,159,882
Newcastle upon Tyne £1,461,608
North Tyneside £663,432
Northumberland £851,302
Redcar and Cleveland £807,275
South Tyneside £632,130
Stockton-on-Tees £876,119
Sunderland £520,783
NORTH WEST £30,867,776
Blackburn with Darwen £500,000
Blackpool £500,000
Bolton £1,327,441
Bury £590,433
Cheshire East £1,263,815
Cheshire West and Chester £1,079,141
Cumbria £753,287
Halton £500,000
Knowsley £509,167
Lancashire £4,724,150
Liverpool £3,460,315
Manchester £2,323,800
Oldham £830,009
Rochdale £1,156,819
Salford £2,467,911
Sefton £675,524
St Helens £649,444
Stockport £1,274,115
Tameside £1,223,336
Trafford £1,676,744
Warrington £710,210
Wigan £1,625,570
Wirral £1,046,546
YORKSHIRE AND THE HUMBER £21,076,263
Barnsley £1,460,729
Bradford £2,144,168
Calderdale £551,746
Doncaster £1,064,927
East Riding of Yorkshire £746,801
Kingston Upon Hull, City of £1,488,667
Kirklees £1,609,972
Leeds £4,574,288
North East Lincolnshire £883,216
North Lincolnshire £729,278
North Yorkshire £716,840
Rotherham £1,059,890
Sheffield £1,944,426
Wakefield £1,473,876
York £627,439
EAST MIDLANDS £23,882,050
Derby £1,565,260
Derbyshire £2,489,980
Leicester £2,013,816
Leicestershire £3,641,555
Lincolnshire £2,986,063
Northamptonshire £2,818,740
Nottingham £2,550,245
Nottinghamshire £5,316,391
Rutland £500,000
WEST MIDLANDS £28,409,065
Birmingham £6,500,324
Coventry £2,426,212
Dudley £1,416,043
Herefordshire £648,122
Sandwell £1,488,855
Shropshire £500,000
Solihull £1,055,762
Staffordshire £2,441,300
Stoke-on-Trent £2,668,316
Telford and Wrekin £1,303,858
Walsall £1,419,382
Warwickshire £2,747,760
Wolverhampton £2,254,087
Worcestershire £1,539,044
EAST OF ENGLAND £26,434,224
Bedford Borough £517,418
Central Bedfordshire £1,940,604
Cambridgeshire £2,709,339
Essex £5,238,295
Hertfordshire £4,761,203
Luton £1,243,963
Norfolk £4,393,597
Peterborough £1,777,784
Southend-on-Sea £1,061,570
Suffolk £2,111,925
Thurrock £678,526
LONDON £67,164,383
INNER LONDON £29,260,922
City of London (chose not to receive allocation) £0
Camden £2,659,040
Hackney £2,724,671
Hammersmith and Fulham £1,109,016
Haringey £1,023,938
Islington £1,834,419
Kensington and Chelsea £2,383,501
Lambeth £2,541,861
Lewisham £2,550,163
Newham £2,611,716
Southwark £1,306,336
Tower Hamlets £2,638,807
Wandsworth £4,837,414
Westminster £1,040,039
OUTER LONDON £37,903,461
Barking and Dagenham £2,159,813
Barnet £2,928,937
Bexley £956,587
Brent £1,923,257
Bromley £2,450,780
Croydon £1,583,319
Ealing £2,298,820
Enfield £1,317,956
Greenwich £2,784,607
Harrow £821,790
Havering £2,206,149
Hillingdon £2,872,216
Hounslow £2,419,089
Kingston upon Thames £1,498,043
Merton £2,192,305
Redbridge £1,847,656
Richmond upon Thames £2,282,870
Sutton £1,924,542
Waltham Forest £1,434,725
SOUTH EAST £48,310,113
Bracknell Forest £500,000
Brighton and Hove £1,029,705
Buckinghamshire £3,555,125
East Sussex £1,273,987
Hampshire £6,789,279
Isle of Wight £500,000
Kent £6,638,937
Medway £1,939,762
Milton Keynes £2,971,552
Oxfordshire £3,520,938
Portsmouth £1,181,281
Reading £954,776
Slough £2,065,766
Southampton £2,106,601
Surrey £6,920,304
West Berkshire £500,000
West Sussex £4,095,781
Windsor and Maidenhead £500,000
Wokingham £1,266,317
SOUTH WEST £22,185,395
Bath and North East Somerset £726,955
Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole £2,365,962
Bristol, City of £1,840,832
Cornwall £2,442,129
Devon £2,145,041
Dorset £500,000
Gloucestershire £1,988,465
Isles of Scilly £500,000
North Somerset £1,152,776
Plymouth £1,447,787
Somerset £983,283
South Gloucestershire £1,908,231
Swindon £1,598,452
Torbay £530,150
Wiltshire £2,055,333

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