Councillors have questioned whether proposed special educational needs reforms in Lincolnshire go far enough.
Members of Lincolnshire County Council’s overview and scrutiny committee discussed a proposed three-year plan to tackle a rising number of children with additional needs (SEND) and create more special school places at a recent meeting.
The £13.8 million self-sufficiency strategy for Special Educational Needs and/or Disability (SEND) and Alternative Provision aims to create more special school places so children don’t have to travel long distances to access support.
It will be funded by the government’s high needs capital allocation grant.
Under the plans, the money will go towards building more SEND hubs, modifying classrooms at special schools to provide additional places and creating bespoke spaces for post-16 SEND students.
But some councillors said they didn’t believe the plans went far enough – and that more should be done to reduce the council county’s reliance on the private sector.
Former leader Coun Martin Hill said: “I think it’s no doubt that SEND funding is the major crisis facing all local authorities who provide children’s services and we are no exception.
“I think we are the last authority now which has yet to go into statutory override and the reason we are the last to go is because we had a £100 million capital programme to expand our special schools across the whole sector.
“That did require, of course, potential borrowing. I don’t want to start a borrowing debate here but these are the dilemmas we have. That investment has saved a lot of money.
“I fully support the paper but I suppose the question is are we going far enough? This paper proposes that we just use the government allocation of £13 million altogether.”
Coun Natalie Oliver, portfolio holder for children’s services, said: “When I took on this role, I was incredibly disappointed with how many children and families were waiting and how long they had been waiting for this provision.
“That comes down to the previous administration. This strategy is all about children in Lincolnshire.
“It’s about being efficient, getting things sorted and it’s not about kicking it down the road like the current Labour government is doing with the SEND strategy.”
Eileen McMorrow, programme manager for the SEND and Inclusion team said: “We are working to prioritise schools which have the most demand. If they’re not forthcoming, we will specifically target other areas to ensure they get the support going forward.”
