Hammersmith and Fulham schools are facing significant budgetary pressures within their high needs funding, as highlighted at the recent Schools Forum meeting. The meeting addressed the Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) outturn for 2024/25 and the high needs block funding for 2025/26, revealing a complex financial landscape. Many local authorities across England are grappling with DSG deficits, often stemming from the increasing demands on their high needs budgets, which support children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).
The summary of high needs block expenditure showed a baseline overspend of £5.254m before mitigations, which was reduced to £0.963m after mitigations. However, the report pack stated that expenditure on special educational needs statutory services has exceeded DSG grant funding and other mitigations in 2024/25, resulting in a total retained deficit relating to the high needs overspend of £2.663m as of 31 March 2025. Growing pressures and more limited mitigation options from 2025/26 presents a challenging picture for Hammersmith and Fulham and reflects the position across much of England.
The mitigations included a £1.179m schools block transfer, £0.960m Safety Valve Funding, £0.742m Central Services Schools Block, £1.00m one-off contribution from council reserves, and £0.410m investment in high needs early intervention services from available Education Section 106 resources. It's important to note that the £0.960m Safety Valve Funding was the planned final payment
, marking the end of funding received through this mechanism, totaling £20.5m over the agreement period. This suggests that this funding source is not sustainable in the long term.
The report pack stated that the high needs block is seeing continued pressures from sustained demand, increasing complexity of needs and inflationary impacts. During the meeting, Alex Parker, an observer, inquired about the budget categories covering top-up funding and costs for schools specializing in high needs. Tony Burton, Head of Finance for Children's Services and Education, clarified that top-up funding for all providers falls under placement costs, including funding for both academies and maintained schools. Parker also asked what the SEND Service category covered, to which Burton responded that it covered language teachers, directly provided services and some occupational therapists provided by the Council but not education, health and care plans casework.
More details can be found in the Public reports pack from the meeting.