Hertfordshire school heads resist £5.4m cut to help county council’s SEND budget
Headteachers are resisting a move to siphon £5.4 million from Hertfordshire’s schools budget to bolster borrowing for children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).
As part of Hertfordshire County Council’s (HCC) 2025-26 budget plans, around £1.5 billion is set to be allocated for schools, with £207m “high needs” funding earmarked for children who need extra support.
But with fears that £207m may not be enough, plans have been drawn up for schools to run up a £50m deficit, which would be funded by HCC borrowing.
As part of that deal, £5.4m – equivalent to 0.5% overall – would be top-sliced from the general schools budget to help cover borrowing costs.
At a meeting of the Hertfordshire Schools Forum (HSF) on Wednesday January 15, it is understood that headteachers agreed to the deficit but not the £5.4m cut.
Council officials are expected to meet with the chair of the HSF to see if an agreement can be reached. If not, there may be moves to reduce the planned increase in allocation to “high needs”.
Alternatively, the council could apply to the Department for Education (DfE) to agree to the proposed top slice – effectively overruling the decision by the HSF.
“The budget proposals set before HSF included an overall budget for schools of approximately £1.5 billion,” said a spokesperson for the county council.
“Due to the low ‘high needs’ funding we receive from central government and to maintain and protect services in Hertfordshire, the budget also contained plans for a £50m deficit in relation to ‘high needs’ spending.
“While the HSF backed the broader financial strategy for supporting children with ‘high needs’, including the £50m deficit, they did not agree with one section that would have seen 0.5% of schools’ budgets being top-sliced to assist with managing the costs of running such a deficit.
“We are looking at the impact of this decision and will continue to work constructively alongside our schools to ensure that children with SEND get the support they need.”
The “high needs” budget is largely used to support children with education, health and care plans (EHCPs) in mainstream or special schools. It also funds early intervention support, education support centres and hospital education.
Hertfordshire has lobbied the Government for an increase in ‘high needs’ funding – the county’s allocation is reported to be the fourth lowest per pupil in the country.
Officials say a “continuing and rapid” increase in the number of children with EHCPs and increasing costs are now making it “increasingly challenging” to control costs.
According to the council’s draft budget proposals, by the end of 2025-26 the proposed £50m deficit would lead to an accumulated schools deficit of around £80m – incurring interest costs of £2.585m during 2025-26. That could increase to £384m by March 2029 – which would incur interest costs of around £16m a year.
The borrowing was also referenced at last week’s meeting of the county council’s cabinet, where HCC’s draft budget was formally presented for the first time.
Leader of the council Cllr Richard Roberts said it was now “a struggle” to meet the needs of the growing number of children requiring SEND support.
Pointing to potential borrowing costs, he said that it was providing an “existential threat” to all local government, not just Hertfordshire.
He said reform and/or sustainable funding within the high needs block and within special educational needs was going to be “essential”.