Skip to content

School leaders rebel over raid on reserves amid ‘shameful’ bail-out ultimatum

A council set for a multi-million pound government bailout to bring its soaring SEND deficit under control will claw back “surplus” reserves held by schools to plug the shortfall. Mainstream schools, already struggling under shrinking budgets as councils try to cover high needs shortfalls, face a raid on their reserves as a condition of the “safety […]

‘People like me were absent when things were going wrong’

Tony McArdle is the man who holds the purse strings to stop councils going bankrupt – but only if they comply with strict cost-cutting of services for pupils with special needs. McArdle is both saviour and bogeyman for councils with staggering deficits in their budgets to provide education for pupils with special educational needs and […]