A major Department for Education project to bring down special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) spending deficits was regarded as just being a “sticking plaster” by council leaders, a new report warns.
The DfE today published assessing the impact of the Safety Valve Programme, which was launched by the previous government for councils with the most pressing high-needs spending deficits.
The programme involved 38 councils being given short-term funding to bring down their deficits, while agreeing plans to bring their spending into balance.
A report by the Isos Partnership says local SEND system leaders who took part in the research described the Safety Valve programme as “a sticking plaster”.
It adds: “They considered Safety Valve to be a symptom - and, at best, a short-term mitigation - of systemic challenges in the national system. They highlighted the need for fundamental national reform, for which the Safety Valve programme was not a substitute.”
Councils ‘risked bankruptcy’
However, leaders also said that the Safety Valve had provided much-needed financial “breathing space” and that without it some councils would have been looking “at significant cuts to services and, in many cases, bankruptcy”.
But the report adds: “At the same time, the overarching conclusion of many participants was that mitigating this financial risk and transforming outcomes for children, young people and families will require both fundamental reform and investment.”
The report also identifies positive impacts that Safety Valve agreements have had on the schools sector, according to those taking part in the research.
Safety Valve deals led to a “greater collective understanding of the financial aspects of the local SEND system among school leaders” and “more informed strategic discussions and a sense of collective responsibility”.
The research involved speaking to elected councillors, senior council officers responsible for SEND, children’s services, school staff and parents.
The Labour government announced at the end of 2024 that it would not be entering into any more Safety Valve agreements as it looked to introduce its own reforms to the support for pupils with SEND.
A Tes investigation into the Safety Valve programme last year examined council documents relating to the targets they had agreed with the government.
In one council, a monitoring report sets out the conditions of its Safety Valve agreement, along with details of “what this really means”.
One such condition was to “improve decision making on awarding education, health and care plans” (EHCPs).
But the document adds that “what this really means” is to “increase the number of refusal to assess and refusal to issue decisions” for EHCPs.
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