Ministers have withheld £18 million from five councils with high needs funding blackholes, with their bailout agreements now officially “suspended”.
Cambridgeshire, Dorset, Hillingdon, Norfolk and Bath and North East Somerset’s safety valve agreements are “currently subject to review”, a Department for Education update today has stated.
Payments of grants to help plug SEND deficits have been “suspended, but will be made up if a revised agreement is reached”.
In total, £17.7 million of £22.2 million has been withheld from these councils for the 2023-24 financial year. Both Dorset and Hillingdon received nothing.
