Almost 600 new places for children in Cambridgeshire with additional needs will be created, thanks to a new funding arrangement.

Cambridgeshire County Council’s bid to national government for extra money came through a process known as a Safety Valve’

Under the agreement with the Department for Education (DfE), the local authority will use the funds to balance its budget for children with additional needs by 2026/7.

Without it, the council has said, it would have to make widespread cuts in its support for children with special educational needs.

The package of support announced by the DfE is worth £49 million to Cambridgeshire County Council. 

The Government has also allocated a further £11.3m for capital funding to Cambridgeshire to support new SEND provision on mainstream school sites.

The funding will help tackle a gap in the budget for SEND provision which is expected to hit around £58 million by the end of this month – caused by demand for services far outstripping government funding to Cambridgeshire for SEND services over the past six years.

As part of the agreement, Cambridgeshire will make a contribution of £9 million over five years towards the reduction in the overall deficit of the Dedicated Schools Grant.

Requests for Education, Health and Care Plans in Cambridgeshire - the document which describes a young person's special needs and the support they will need to meet their educational goals – have more than doubled from 3,429 in 2016 to more than 7,000 currently.

The challenging picture in Cambridgeshire is one being faced by many local authorities across the country with more than half also in deficit for their High Needs budget – the money allocated by the DfE to be spent on SEND provision.

Cambridgeshire has historically received less funding per child for education than other areas. This is while still responding to a rapidly growing population of children with special educational needs and disabilities who are presenting with greater complexities, some of which relates to young people suffering more with social, emotional and mental health arising from the Covid pandemic.

To meet these challenges, the council will use the new funding to create 463 new special school places. There will also be extra support for 105 pupils at mainstream schools by September 2026 through a programme of expanding current sites and building new schools.

The council has also applied to the free school programme for two new special schools in Fenland and Gamlingay.

Cllr Bryony Goodliffe, chair of Cambridgeshire County Council’s children and young people's committee, said: “One of our main responsibilities is to make sure we help every child reach their potential – something which is more challenging but even more necessary for those with special educational needs or disabilities.

"We have seen a sharp rise in the number of young people with additional needs in recent years and funding from government has not kept pace with that demand, something which is now being recognised.

"Moreover, by awarding us the level of funding that we requested it has been recognised that we are a council that can be counted on to spend the funding wisely and work sensitively with parents and carers of children with SEND – of which I am one - to achieve some challenging changes which is testament to our team here and the great work they are doing."