Concerns have been raised about the management of Wiltshire Council’s SEND budget as a report reveals it is not on track to meet its financial target.
The council aims to reach a positive in-year balance on its Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) account by the end of 2028-29, by controlling and reducing its cumulative deficit, not exceeding £84.5m in financial year 2024/25.
However, a report presented to the Schools Forum shows that the council will exceed the forecast £84.5m cumulative deficit, which a local headteacher described as “worrying”.
READ MORE: Wiltshire Council's cabinet approves new SEND strategy
The report was discussed at the latest Schools Forum meeting.
Headteacher of Lyneham Primary School, John Read, asked: “Why is it that we’re not on track and where is the optimism that we’re going to get there in time coming from given that we’re already slipping behind?”
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Finance Lead for the high needs block sustainability, Liz Williams, explained that the council had more Education and Health Care (EHC) plans than forecast.
She said: “Some of that is due to positive action that the council is taking in that we have put plans in place to clear some of the backlog of assessments.”
An Education, Health and Care Needs Assessment (EHCNA) is a legal process that determines if a child needs an EHC plan, which should then provide them with additional support.
Inclusion SEND and AP Transformation Lead Ben Stevens added that the Covid impact on requests had “created a lot of uncertainty”.
He noted: “The crumb of comfort that I cling to in terms of the figures is that since January the level of EHCNA requests has flatlined and stayed the same.
“It’s roughly 100 requests a month on average, taking a 12-month rolling average.”
Mr Stevens stated it would be “hugely challenging” to get back on track, but Wiltshire Council was committed to maintaining and improving support for children and young people.
He concluded: “Part of the purpose of this report is to be completely open and honest about the fact that it doesn’t look good, and we aren’t on track, and we know that there are significant amounts of work that need to be done.
“But we want to make sure that we’re always working with schools and parent carers as partners in that process, rather than coming up with some madcap plan that no one has any buy-in for.”
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