Almost 9 out of 10 requests for additional support for children with Special Educational Needs (SEND) are turned down whilst the Council sits on a pile of cash.
Birmingham schools are facing significant challenges in supporting pupils with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND), as funding that could provide essential support is being withheld. Many of these pupils require specialist school placements, but due to a lack of available spaces, they remain in mainstream schools where they often struggle to cope. As a result, some can only attend school part-time, while others face exclusion because they are not receiving the help they need.
Despite having the financial resources to address this issue, Birmingham’s Labour-led administration has rejected 86% of requests for additional SEND funding. The administration has justified this decision by stating that deferring expenditure now will enable the council to finance other projects in the future.
Opposition councillors are raising concerns following revelations that Birmingham City Council is currently holding back £38 million from the High Needs Block, a fund allocated by the Department for Education to support children and young people with SEND. This funding is specifically intended to provide additional resources to schools and colleges, ensuring that these pupils receive the necessary support to participate in education. However, the council’s recent financial update has disclosed an underspend of £38 million, meaning funds that should have been distributed to schools remain unallocated. Some schools are now running budget deficits as they attempt to meet the needs of SEND pupils without adequate funding.
Since declaring effective bankruptcy in September 2023, the Labour administration has been struggling to manage its financial crisis, with an in-year deficit of £225 million that it plans to address through asset sales or borrowing. However, delays in the asset sales programme have raised concerns about the council’s ability to meet its financial commitments. While the High Needs Block cannot legally be used to offset this deficit, keeping these funds unallocated could temporarily aid the council’s cash flow issues until the funding is released in future years. This approach has been called into question, particularly given the urgent needs of local schools and students.
Currently, 276 children in Birmingham are awaiting placement in special schools, leaving mainstream institutions to request Exceptional Special Needs funding to support them in the interim. Since September 2023, the council has refused 86% of these requests—209 out of 242—despite having the resources to provide assistance.
Opposition councillors are calling for immediate action to ensure that funding reaches the schools and children who need it most.
Councillor Adam Higgs (Con, Highters Heath), Shadow Cabinet Member for Children, Young People and Families said:
Schools are facing real short-term pressures whilst Birmingham Labour is holding back funding which rightly should go to the hundreds of children who are currently not having their needs met. The reality is that there are children currently not receiving a full-time education or who have been excluded from school because this funding has been denied to them. The Council are deliberately holding this money back to use in vaguely defined, and no doubt heavily staffed, projects bringing in interims and management consultants. The Council’s record on such things is less than stellar. Why not just use the money for the purpose it was intended for, to improve children’s education now? It would be a real scandal if it were to emerge that the Council’s cashflow issues has been the real reason this money has been diverted.
