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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the potential impact on West Midlands local authorities of the Government’s decision in the Autumn Budget to transfer full responsibility for funding Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) provision to central government from 2028-29; and whether his Department has modelled the financial implications for Walsall Council, in particular the treatment of existing Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) deficits.

At Autmn Budget 2025, the government clarified that ambitious Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) reform plans will be set out early in the new year and that funding for SEND will be managed within the government’s overall departmental spending limits from 2028-29. Therefore, we do not expect local authorities to need to fund future SEND costs from general funds, once the Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) Statutory Override ends at the end of 2027-28.

We recognise that local authorities are continuing to face significant pressure from the impact of historic and accruing DSG deficits on their accounts. The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government engages regularly with local authorities and the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy on the impact of the deficits and the extent to which they are expected to grow. We will set out further details on our plans to support local authorities with their historic and accruing deficits through the upcoming Local Government Finance Settlement.