Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole (BCP) Council has warned it could face insolvency this year due to rising deficits caused by high levels of spending on services for children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).
BCP is expected to accumulate a deficit of £63m on its dedicated schools grant (DSG) by March this year. This could rise to £92m by March 2025 “without other funding sources being secured”, a report published by the council states.
It highlights that the deficit is due to more than a third of children in the area with education, health and care plans (EHCPs) accessing specialist provision which “is more expensive than that provided through mainstream education”.
This extends to pupils in post-16 education of which four per cent of those with EHCPs are accessing specialist provision compared with a national average of 1.6 per cent, according to the report.
