Funding pressures are “pushing out” children from mainstream education - fuelling the rise in exclusions and home education, local authorities are warning.

The claim was made at an event in central London at which local authority education leaders, headteachers and governors discussed the financial squeeze facing schools.

Much of the discussion at yesterday’s event centred on funding gaps in provision for pupils with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), and the cuts that councils and schools are having to make.

Les Knight, head of additional needs at Herefordshire Council, linked gaps in SEND provision to the rise in children being educated at home, with the number now standing at 180 in Herefordshire.

He said: “Some of those will have SEND and the parents feel the needs aren’t being met in the school. They are, therefore, opting for home education.”

His local authority is reviewing “all areas” of the high-needs budget, which is the pot of money aimed at pupils with the most significant needs relating to SEND.

Gaps in SEND funding

One of the areas being pared back is a scheme that supports smaller schools at risk of overspending against their SEND budgets.

But he warned: “If we cut that back, that potentially raises the risk of more schools pushing out students to specialist provision.”

The council aims to have an inclusive ethos to “not turn our back on any child”. But Mr Knight asked: “To what extent can we honestly say we’re honouring that now?”

Meanwhile, Gloucestershire is carrying out a “rigorous review” of its high-needs funding, involving “fundamental changes”, said Gillian Hayward, chair of the Gloucestershire Schools Forum.

She highlighted the rise in school exclusions, saying: “There’s something happening with exclusions, and is some of that about schools not having the resources to keep [pupils]?”

The conference was organised by the f40 group, which represents the local authorities with the lowest levels of education funding.

Also speaking at the event was Jenny Lawrence, from Leicestershire County Council, who talked about the funding squeeze in the early years sector.

She suggested that this had left parents of children with SEND “apprehensive” about accessing their free hours of childcare.

The warnings follow concerns about the impact of tighter school budgets on SEND provision across the country, as well as on illegal exclusions of SEND pupils.

And last week, education secretary Damian Hinds was asked about the “off-rolling” of SEND pupils when he appeared before the Education Select Committee. Mr Hinds said he wanted to reduce the number of excluded SEND pupils and spread “best practice”.

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