Cambridgeshire County Council has drawn up a new special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) strategy after failing to meet the terms of a funding agreement with the Government.
The council entered a ‘safety valve’ agreement last year, with the Department for Education (DfE) agreeing to provide £49m to help it repay its high needs funding deficit if it set out a plan to reduce spending.
But according to a council report, the number of children and young people requiring an education, health and care plan ‘has become greater than was initially forecast’, meaning the terms of the agreement ‘have not been met as intended’.
Cambridgeshire has so far received £21.5m from the DfE, with the remaining £27.5m subject to the approval and delivery of the new agreement.
The local authority has now submitted the fresh plans, which are based on an ‘inclusion for all’ framework that would see more children with SEND supported in mainstream schools.
The council report notes that many local authorities with safety valves are renegotiating with the DfE given the national rise in numbers of children and young people with SEND.
