Agenda item

Jane Seymour introduced the report (Agenda Item 15), which set out the current financial position of the high needs budget for 2022/23 and the position as far as it could be predicted for 2023/24, including the likely shortfall.

Jane Seymour stressed that figures were currently estimates. The shortfall currently in the High Needs Block (HNB) was £8,668,928, including carried forward overspends. Jane Seymour highlighted the key areas of pressure, which were covered in detail within the report. The main areas of pressure were under top up funding and this included children with EHCPs in different types of setting. The level of children requiring EHCPs was rising.  Detail on top up funding was included under section two of Appendix A on page 155 of the report. The main areas of pressure in order were maintained special schools, independent special schools, mainstream school EHCPs and free special schools. Detail was provided on each area from section 2.9 of Appendix A. Jane Seymour did not feel that it should be assumed from this information that the many initiatives in place to try and keep children in mainstream school had not been successful. Jane Seymour was confident that if these initiatives had not been in place there would have been even more placements required in the independent sector. If there was a static population for SEND it was likely a net reduction would be seen however, there was an increasing population.

As part of the Council’s own provision additional places had been created locally at the Castle at Theale, which had opened in September. However, this provision could only be grown at a steady rate. This meant the longer term impact of the provision was not yet being seen. More places had also been made available at iCollege through the Pod, which was much more cost effective that alternative placements. Kennet Valley SEMH provision was also due to open in September 2024. Jane Seymour reported that when the SEND Strategy was refreshed in 2023, it would need to be considered how many more additional placements were needed in order to save money in the longer term. It was acknowledged that there was a significant deficit in the block, which was cause for concern. It was not however felt that this was an indication that the strategy was not working. The benefits of some of the newer provision was not yet being seen. 

Jane Seymour continued that West Berkshire was part of a Government programme called Delivering Better Value (DBV). Nationally, 20 local authorities had been placed in a programme called the Safety Valve and these were the local authorities with the highest overspends in their HNB. 55 local authorities were then part of the Government’s DBV Programme. There were three tranches to this programme and the first had already started with the second starting in the spring. West Berkshire was in the third tranche and would therefore not benefit from the programme until summer 2023. Local authorities in the third tranche were those with a lower overspend. It was expected some invest to save funding might be seen as part of this programme, which could help to fund some initiatives in the new SEND Strategy. 

Jane Seymour concluded that the figures included in the report would be reviewed prior to the next round of meetings in January. Jane Seymour added that the costs for some placements that had not yet been agreed had needed to be included because they were at SEND tribunal.

Keith Harvey acknowledged that the pressures being faced in the block and the increasing levels of SEND was a national issue. Apart from the Government’s cost saving initiatives, Keith Harvey queried if there was any indication of some joined up thinking regarding how the matter might be managed in the longer term nationally. Jane Seymour did not believe that there was and commented that the Government seemed to be focusing on the programme’s mentioned. Jane Seymour felt the thinking was that by putting in some invest to save money in to a large number of local authorities with a deficit, longer term the position would become more sustainable. Apart from this there had been nothing else from Central Government regarding how the issues could be contained. It was agreed that this felt like a sticking plaster approach.

Gemma Piper queried if there was any idea of what the DBV support might look like and it was queried if it might entail challenging the provision of non statutory services. Gemma Piper was aware that this had been a concern for some time and queried if this was a risk. Jane Seymour commented that this was possible but it was hard to say because it was a new programme and there had been little in the way of feedback from tranche one. The only feedback received was that a diagnostic assessment was being carried out, which looked in great detail at data and what this was showing about needs and trends. It was possible that West Berkshire would face challenge regarding spend on non-statutory services when it went through the process. Jane Seymour felt however that there would be a strong case and a good level of evidence so show that these services were helping to prevent spend. It would be interesting to see what other local authorities in the other tranches were finding as part of the exercise.

Gemma Piper stated that it might be worth having a couple of case studies of authorities in the first tranche to track what was taking place. Gemma Piper referred to the 12 percent increase in EHCPs and commented, as a user of the services, that the threshold had not got easier. Further, it was acknowledged that even more applications than what was being approved, were being received. Gemma Piper queried where West Berkshire sat nationally or locally in terms of the rate of increase in EHCPs. Jane Seymour reported that it was quite difficult to get hold of this data but would try again to see if she could collate anything. Jane Seymour confirmed however that on any data she had seen West Berkshire was lower down on the percentage increase in terms of EHCP inflation and this was because the EHCP criteria was applied very robustly. Regarding getting information from other local authorities in the DBV programme, Jane Seymour was aware that most authorities in the south east were part of the programme, so there were close neighbours that could be learnt from in terms of their experience.  

RESOLVED that:

• Case study information to be collected from other local authorities in the Safety Valve of DBV programmes.
• Jane Seymour to attempt to collate information from other authorities on the rate of EHCP inflation.
• The Schools’ Forum noted the report, which would be brought back to the next round of meetings in January 2023.