We ask that the Safety Valve programme, which gives funding to local authorities who put plans in place to reduce school deficits, be suspended. We believe it incentivises cutting support for vulnerable children, and we want funding to cover local authority deficits to be provided without condition.
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We believe SEND services have experienced chronic underfunding and that cuts to non-statutory services have created unprecedented, avoidable need for statutory services.
Rather than Government investment in early intervention, 38 local authorities have signed DfE agreements for the programme. We are concerned that many of these local authorities cannot meet their targets and are failing children, for no benefit, to manage deficits that should not exist. We believe this is not working and must stop.