Hundreds of children in Nottingham are now waiting for a specialist school placement, with council officials setting out plans to boost places and avoid an annual £50 million budget gap over the next five years.
Nottingham City Council says there are more children and young people who need extra help at school because they are living with autism or speech and language needs, or have difficulty understanding their emotions.
Mainstream schools do not have enough specialist staff or resources, and special schools and support units are now completely full too, with 217 children waiting for a place.
The city council says it is having to place more children to schools outside the city and spend its limited reserves from its special educational needs budget.
More children are also at risk of being excluded from school, having to learn part-time, or needing costly alternative education arrangements as a result.
Last year, permanent exclusions involving children with SEND accounted for 59 per cent of all exclusions.
The council is now planning to create 408 extra specialist school places, in addition to those already being created.
“Investing in new buildings and school places will help more children access good local education and reduce the cost of current arrangements,” the council said.
“Without investment, the council will continue relying on expensive independent specialist placements, creating unsustainable pressure.”
According to the council, the demand for places in local special schools and other specialist provision is expected to rise by 45 per cent, from 737 to 1,072 by 2032.
Its new strategy proposes creating over 408 new specialist places through a £16.7 million investment, which is in turn expected to save more than £25.2 million over the next five years.
These places will be created at specialist schools such as Rosehill, Nethergate and Snapewood.
A school that never opened due to low mainstream demand – the Waterside Primary Academy in Trent Basin – is also being converted into a specialist school to meet growing demand for specialist places.
• Unused Waterside Primary School site set for new life as part of major £6m SEND school expansion
Council documents show the council’s current budget is £59.2 million, but costs are forecast to reach £67 million, creating a funding gap of £7.8 million.
“Without action, this deficit is expected to rise significantly over the next five years,” the council added.
“To prevent this, the council is proposing to expand local SEND and alternative provision (AP) places so more children can access the right support close to home.
“Increasing local capacity will help reduce the need for expensive placements outside the city and create a more sustainable system for the future.”
The council’s recovery plan shows that, without taking action now, the costs of providing specialist support for children and young people with additional needs will continue to rise.
If nothing changes, the annual budget gap could grow to more than £50 million over the next five years.
This year, the Labour Government announced long-awaited plans to write off up to 90 per cent of council SEND deficits, totalling around £5 billion.
A paper is soon to be published outlining planned reforms to the sector.
While Nottingham is not in a deficit position, Reform-led Nottinghamshire County Council welcomed the Government’s plans, as its own deficit hit £30 million in the last year alone.
