West Sussex County Council cabinet members have written to the Secretary of State for Education, The Rt Hon Bridget Phillipson MP, to express the council’s views on the state of Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) support nationally and to propose necessary changes to the system.
In their letter, Councillor Jacquie Russell, Cabinet Member for Children, Young People and Learning, and Councillor Jeremy Hunt, Cabinet Member for Finance and Property, give particular focus to the future of the Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) deficit and the impact this is having on council budgets and financial sustainability.
Cllr Hunt said: “The ever-growing DSG deficit threatens the financial sustainability of many local authorities. We are calling on the government to urgently tackle this issue and support local authorities like West Sussex County Council, so that we can make better use of our resources to help our most vulnerable residents. We are also seeing a major deficit in what funding our children receive per head compared to other local authorities and this imbalance needs to be addressed.”
Cllr Russell said: “We want to ensure that all children have equal opportunities to achieve their full potential, no matter where they live or what their level of need is. However, this is becoming increasingly challenging as the need for SEND support continues to grow at a rapid rate and budget pressures surge.
“I hope that the Secretary of State takes our concerns and proposals on board and that these are incorporated into the government’s review of the SEND system and upcoming white paper, so that we can continue to ensure that children and young people get the support they need to thrive in their education.”
More information on SEND in West Sussex can be found on the county council’s website.
Notes to editors:
The following is Cllr Russell and Cllr Hunt’s letter to the Secretary of State for Education in full:
Dear Secretary of State,
RE: SEND Reform
We are writing on behalf of West Sussex County Council (WSCC) and the residents we serve regarding the Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) crisis and ask that you consider our views in your design of SEND reform.
As you will be aware, local government is facing significant financial pressures over the short to medium term, with growing demand and complexity of cases. West Sussex County Council’s budget gap for 2025/26 is an estimated £30m, before any potential adverse impact from Fair Funding 2.0, but with assumed council tax increases as the maximum allowed of 4.99%. We do not include the impact of the DSG deficit coming onto our balance sheet in our forward projections. If the current deficit is not addressed, and comes back on the balance sheet in 2028, this will have material implications for the financial sustainability of local government in West Sussex.
We very much welcome the Government’s decision to review the SEND support system and look forward to the publication of the White Paper in the Autumn. We know that, like us, you feel strongly that no child should be worth less than another – and all children should have access to the same resources and opportunities, regardless of where they live and their level of need. The White Paper therefore offers the opportunity to set out a vision for bold reform, including on funding, to ensure that this objective is met.
Part of that vision will need to address the rapidly growing impact of the Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) deficits, given the need to put the system onto a sustainable footing. At WSCC, whilst we welcome the certainty of the Government’s decision to extend the statutory override for the DSG deficit until March 2028, that doesn’t come without its challenges. The County Council is currently forecasting to spend £206.7m against the High Needs element of the Dedicated Schools Grant in 2025/26. This is an overspending of £70m (51%) against our High Needs grant funding allocation of £136.7m. This will see our cumulative DSG deficit increase to £193m by the end of the current financial year, and to £413.9m by March 2028.
Alongside this, the deficit is continuing to have an adverse effect on the County Council’s cash flow and return on investments. Currently, the DSG deficit forecast equates to a potential loss of £158.3m in average cash balances in 2025/26, which assuming a bank rate of 4.08% will result in a loss of investment income of £6.5m this year. In addition, based on latest treasury management forecasts the County Council is expecting to be in the position of needing to start borrowing money in order to fund the cumulative DSG deficit position by the last quarter of this financial year.
The loss of investment income is forecast to deteriorate further, with current forecasts estimating a loss of £8.8m in 2026/27 and £12.3m loss in 2027/28. Without this money the Council is unable to fund essential Council services such as social care, highway maintenance and other SEND services such as home to school transport and the statutory work undertaken by the Special Educational Needs (SEN) assessment team and the Educational Psychology Service.Also, as a result of the overwhelming SEND demand, the cost of SEND home to school transport has also increased by 133% from £12m in 2018/19 (when the council first went into deficit) to £28m in 2024/25, with SEND passenger numbers increasing by 50% from 1,773 to 2,668.
In the Autumn we are therefore seeking a commitment from Government to pay off the cumulative DSG deficit to ensure that we are able to spend the money we have on key services that many of our most vulnerable residents rely on.
Furthermore, in considering reform, we ask that this funding should be distributed on a fairer basis than it is currently done to reflect current need and demand, and not on historic spend and the 2-18 population, which approximately 60% of the current funding formula does.
For 2025/26 West Sussex received a funding allocation of £1,244.86 per pupil; Brighton and Hove received £1,455.73 per pupil; London Borough of Camden - the highest funded authority in England - received a funding allocation of £3,564.95 per pupil. How can it be considered fair to give a SEND child in West Sussex, circa 15% less funding than a child in Brighton and Hove and 65% less funding than a child in Camden?
The recent publication of the January 2025 SEN2 data shows that within our statistical neighbour group, and England as a whole, the number of initial requests for an Education, Health and Care Needs Assessment (EHCNA) has risen by approximately 90% between 2019 and 2024. Over the same period of time, the annual number of EHCNA requests within West Sussex have increased from 791 to 2,448, an increase of 209%.
In raising this with you in good time ahead of the White Paper publication we hope that you are able to consider and reflect our points in the final reform proposals. We would of course welcome the opportunity to discuss these issues with you directly and would be happy to meet you at a mutually convenient time. We have also asked our officers to liaise with your civil servants to ensure that any further information you might require is provided.
Yours sincerely,
Councillor Jacquie Russell, Cabinet Member for Children, Young People and Learning
Councillor Jeremy Hunt, Cabinet Member for Finance and Property
