Dedicated Schools Grant: Debts

(asked on 11th February 2026) - View Source

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the write-off of 90 per cent of the High Needs block debts of English councils on the amount of SEND funding to be absorbed into her Department's Resource Departmental Expenditure Limits from 2028-29 .


Answered by
Georgia Gould Portrait
Georgia Gould
Minister of State (Education)
This question was answered on 4th March 2026

The High Needs Stability Grant is concerned with historic spending and will have no impact on pressures in 2028/29. From the 2028/29 financial year, the government has confirmed that special educational needs and disabilities pressure will be absorbed within the overall government departmental expenditure limits budget such that the government would not expect local authorities to need to fund future special educational needs costs from general funds. Budgets from 2028/29 onwards, including the core schools budget, will be confirmed at the 2027 Spending Review.

Reticulating Splines