Warwickshire council leader's 'parent choice' comment on SEND masks funding 'scandal'

The county’s cabinet, the panel of Conservative councillors in charge of major service areas, last week approved progressing the council’s SEND Delivering Better Value programme.

Warwickshire is one of 55 education authorities nationally to be taking part with SEND spending vastly outstripping the government funding allocated for it.

With increases in the number of Education Health and Care Plans (EHCPs) – frameworks to aid those with needs that cannot be met by mainstream education or “reasonable adjustments” – expected to continue, the county’s report says that its “financial forecasts estimate that there will be a cumulative deficit of £267 million by 2028 without significant mitigation”.

Four measures have been put forward to cut that by up to £115 million – establishing more specialist provision within mainstream schools, “more effective” SEND support prior to children reaching the EHCP stage, a workforce development programme to “maintain support and confidence for supporting children with EHC plans in mainstream schools” and improving digital systems to make the process run more smoothly.

Multi-million pound black hole

A lot of the overspend is down to there not being enough provision to meet the needs of children locally, meaning the county not only pays private providers that may be based miles away, even outside Warwickshire, but also to get the children to and from that provision.

Councillor Bill Gifford (Lib Dem, Leamington Milverton) has frequently questioned the price of private providers, stating he had found one that makes a 26 per cent profit on offering such services.

“My concern is – and this is anecdotal from talking to parents of SEND pupils – that some of the independent provision at the very high end doesn’t necessarily provide the best value,” he said.

“It is enormously expensive but it is still not providing a wonderful education.”

Leader Councillor Izzi Seccombe OBE (Con, Stour & the Vale) responded with her party’s position.

“You will be aware that this is parent choice, largely,” she said.

“They may be Warwickshire children and it may be us who foot the bill for these, but this is one of the reasons that we are hugely concerned about the budget in this area. We have all been expressing exactly the same concerns leading up to the budget process this year.

“When a child gets an EHCP, the parent or carer concerned may ask that the offer be taken to an independent inspector who makes a judicial decision one way or the other.

“That is the choice of the parent and the inspector, it isn’t necessarily one that we have a great deal of say over, and I am being careful with my words here.

“We do stand up and try to put forward the case and my belief – and I believe that is the case for many of us – is that wherever possible, children should be educated in their own community, be that locality or school, because it represents the life that they will or do lead.

“Largely, their peer and family support is in that community and they will thrive far better in that situation.

“Children need to be part of a community that loves, befriends and supports them and part of society is how we respond to the kaleidoscope that is our society. We are all better for it.

“That is my view and I think it is one that we have expressed quite frequently.”

Local solutions deliver a "better outcome in the long term"

Deputy leader Councillor Peter Butlin (Con, Admirals & Cawston), who is also portfolio holder for property and finance, endorsed those views, addressing financial and practical implications.

“We have a cumulative deficit from SEND and that has been realised in a significant sum that is held in reserves, I think the last time I looked it was approaching £32 million,” he said.

“We also passed at cabinet a while back that we will no longer serve that deficit onto reserves so if we do not bring the spending on SEND in line with the level of provision made, we will be running a deficit.

“All three papers (approved by cabinet on the day – this and capital spending on schools) make provision for SEND and mainstream provision is a very important part of that. If we can keep as many children with SEND in their communities and local schools, that can only be a better outcome for them in the long term.

“We are now consciously trying to make provision for specialist schools and as, as Bill referred to, there is a private sector out there as well.

“To a large extent, whether they do or don’t go to that private sector is sometimes out of our hands, it is the parent’s choice. At the moment that has the upper hand as to where we send these children.

“SEND has been a problem for us for quite some time, the need has been outstripping our ability to finance it for quite a while.

“Hopefully, by passing these three papers today, we are making a considerable effort to bring that overspend under control and also get better outcomes for our children as a result.

“We do not want children being bussed all over the country. You hear of children with SEND embarking on hour-and-a-half journeys at either end of the day, that cannot be good.”

Out of county a last resort for parents – not a choice

Nuneaton mum and SEND campaigner Elissa Novak took to social media site X – formerly Twitter – to express concern over what was said.

“The parental choice narrative ignores a key fact,” she wrote.

“The choice is often between no provision, mainstream provision that can't meet needs or independent provision. It is not really a choice at all.

“Where a child has an EHCP, the local authority has a legal duty to meet the child's defined needs. A tribunal will only favour the parental choice if the local authority’s choice can't meet those needs. The legislation is very clear on this point.

“Warwickshire parents are too often faced with the choice of no education for their children with SEND or an independent or out of county provider. This is a scandal but it is not caused by families. It is a direct result of the long term decline in funding for SEND provision."