Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the Government's statement that it will take an "appropriate and proportionate approach" to Dedicated Schools Grant high needs deficits arising in 2026-27 and 2027-28, (a) what criteria will be used to determine eligibility for support, (b) what estimate she has made of the aggregate national value of those deficits, (c) whether any proportion of those deficits will be written off or otherwise funded by central government, and (d) by what date local authorities will be given certainty on those arrangements ahead of the expiry of the statutory override in March 2028.

The department recognises that local authorities are operating in a challenging system that has placed significant and growing pressures on resources. That is why the government committed around £6 billion, the largest ever intervention in special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) deficits, to provide grant funding for 90% of historic dedicated schools grant deficits up to 2025/26.

The government has confirmed that it will take an appropriate and proportionate approach to deficits arising in 2026/27 and 2027/28, although it will not be unlimited. In considering further support, the government will take into account local authorities' successful delivery of their approved local SEND reform plans, including the appropriate use of investment funding to establish an ‘experts at hand’ offer. The department will set out the arrangements for this further support before the statutory accounting override ends in March 2028.