Councils claimed education budgets will still be in deficit after three years.
It has been revealed that 29 councils in England told the DfE that their education budgets will still be in deficit after three years.
Out of the 32 councils who were asked to submit a financial recovery plan the DfE, the majority responded that it would be impossible to eliminate the deficits. All of the plans identified increasing costs of SEND provision.
These plans were drawn up prior to the Government’s recent funding announcements, however, Julie Cordiner, an education funding specialist, has said that the extra funding is not enough and it will not hit the places that need it the most: “There’s no guarantee that the extra money will go to the right places. There will be some lucky local authorities that get their deficits wiped out, but some won’t get anywhere near.”
Two of the 29 councils are in the North East: Darlington and Stockton on Tees. Analysis has shown that the North East will be receiving some of the lowest increases from the additional funding announced with only 3.7% of primaries benefiting from the additional funding, less than the national average of 4.3%. Only 7.7% of secondaries will see increases, the lowest outside of London and compared to a national average of 17%.