“Councils are working hard to use their finite resources in the best way possible to meet their legal duties to support children and young people with SEND."
Responding to the Written Ministerial Statement on education funding, which sets out councils’ Dedicated Schools Grant allocations, including high needs funding, for 2026/27, Cllr Amanda Hopgood, Chair of the Local Government Association’s Children, Young People and Families Committee, said:
“Councils are working hard to use their finite resources in the best way possible to meet their legal duties to support children and young people with SEND.
“A reformed SEND system is needed urgently and must be financially sustainable for councils.
“It is right that government has recognised that councils cannot absorb high needs deficit costs. We remain clear that government should write off all high needs deficits and fully fund associated costs such as home to school transport, ahead of setting out wider, comprehensive reforms in the Schools White Paper that must deliver an inclusive education system for every child.”