Written evidence submitted by West Sussex County Council
(SFC0059)
1.1 It is widely acknowledged that the system for Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) is broken. Whilst the 2014 reforms that expanded the eligibility for SEND support via Education Health and Care Plans (EHCPs) were done with the best intentions, it led to significant unfunded demand and an over reliance on special school provision; with increasing waits for assessments, and limited improvements in outcomes for children.
1.2 Since the reforms were introduced, demand for EHCPs has increased 140%, leading to 576,000 children with plans in 2024. There has also been a 14% increase in the number of those with SEN support, to 1.14 million pupils in school, and although the Department for Education has increased high-needs funding, with a 58% real-terms increase between 2014/15 and 2024/25 to £10.7 billion, the system is still not delivering better outcomes for children and young people or preventing local authorities from facing significant financial risks.
1.3 Over the course of the last Parliament councils across the country have accrued unsustainable high-needs deficits as funding has failed to keep pace with demand, reaching an estimated £3.2bn nationally this year. These deficits have only been kept off councils’ balance sheets using a mechanism called the ‘statutory override’.
1.4 Whilst West Sussex County Council welcomes the additional £1 billion funding for SEND announced in the Autumn Budget, the notional funding provided to mainstream schools to support them in providing support to children with SEND had not increased since it was implemented in 2013 and remains at a notional figure of £6,000.
1.5 In West Sussex we have seen the number of EHCPs rise from 3,423 at the end of March 2015, when the SEN assessment system was reformed, to 8,802 (and rising) at the end of September 2024. Additionally, children’s special educational needs are becoming more complex, requiring higher rates of funding to support them successfully.
1.6 In West Sussex, the high needs budget is currently forecasted to overspend by £59m this year, which will take our cumulative DSG deficit to £131m at the end of March 2025. This is projected to increase year on year if the current growth in EHCPs continues, rising to £224m when the statutory override is set to end.
2.1 Government should provide immediate clarity on how it plans to manage councils’ high-needs deficits from March 2026 when the statutory override is scheduled to end, recognising that if the deficit comes onto local authority balance sheets, a significant proportion of authorities will have no choice but to declare bankruptcy (issue a S114 notice).
2.2 A comprehensive review and reform of the SEND system from the bottom up should be carried out: including legislative changes, SEN funding for both mainstream and specialist schools, increasing specialist school places for those that need them most and incentivising mainstream schools to be more inclusive.
2.3 The level of capital funding that local authorities receive for SEND should be reviewed and increased as increased allocations will allow local authorities to create their own provision in preference to expensive Independent Non-Maintained Special School (INMSS) provision.
2.4 Consideration should be given to review and improve the EHCP process such that priority should be given to those with the most complex needs, and that there should be a presumption of inclusion for the majority of children into mainstream schools. These priorities should be established such that the review of the tribunal system would support this prioritisation.
2.5 Local authorities must have sufficient levers through the National Funding Formula for mainstream schools to reward and encourage inclusivity to ensure that mainstream schools feel that they have sufficient resources to support SEN children in mainstream settings.
2.6 More Capital funds need to be provided to allow increasing mainstream provision in existing and new provision (including relaxing the requirement for new provision to be run by academy trusts).
November 2024