A Scottish council has unveiled grand plans to save a whopping £6 million over the next three years.

Highland Council currently faces a budget black hole of more than £60 million - but don’t worry, it thinks it’s found a magic solution. Hurrah, we hear you cry! What a relief for all who live within its boundaries.

But how is it going to achieve this massive saving? Well, it is turning to schools to lend a helping hand. Ah. Slight snag.

The council says it will “transform” the way children with additional support needs are supported in school by cutting the number of specialist teachers.

It says it will reduce the number of ASN teachers through natural wastage (hmm) and redeploy them as class teachers in schools hit by staff shortages.

Worryingly, official figures show that the number of ASN teachers working in Scotland fell by 122 between 2014 and 2017, despite the number of pupils with a recorded additional support need rising.

However, Highland Council is using the high proportion of children in its schools with an ASN to make the case for change. It says that similar local authorities did not report such high levels of ASN and were achieving “improved outcomes”, and therefore it needs to change its approach.

In Highland Council, 37.2 per cent of primary pupils were recorded as having an ASN, compared with 23.5 per cent nationally. At secondary, 40.6 per cent of Highland pupils had a recorded ASN, compared with 29.9 per cent nationally.

By redesigning the support that pupils with ASN receive, the council said it hoped to save £2.9 million in the first year and £1.6 million for the next two years. What remains unclear, however, is just how many ASN teacher posts would be lost.

And what about children who suddenly find themselves without a teacher suitably trained to reflect their level of need? The council suggests that the “upskilling” of frontline teachers would take place “to achieve a more flexible and responsive service”.