Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how her Department is coordinating with the Department for Health and Social Care and the Treasury to ensure councils affected by high needs and social care deficits can plan before March 2026, when the statutory deficit override ends.

This government recognises the pressures local authorities are facing because of their Dedicated School Grant (DSG) deficits. As part of the Fair Funding Review 2.0 consultation published on 20 June, the government announced an extension to the DSG Statutory Override, currently due to end in March 2026, until the end of 2027-28. This extension is part of a phased transition to a reformed Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) system. The Department for Education Spending Review settlement confirmed funding for SEND reform, details of which will be set out in a White Paper in the autumn. As part of this transition, the government will provide more detail by the end of the year on the plan for supporting local authorities with both historic and accruing deficits. We will set out more detail at the provisional Local Government Finance Settlement.