Special needs education and children in care are costing Bristol City Council millions of pounds over its budget. New figures show how much extra money the council spent last year compared to how much was originally budgeted for, with some areas costing far more than planned.
Increasing numbers of children and young people in Bristol, and across the country, need extra support at school, while some children need to be taken into care. But the level of demand rose much faster last year than City Hall chiefs expected in the annual council budget.
Details of how much was spent compared to how much was budgeted for the financial year from April 2022 to March 2023 were revealed in recent cabinet papers. During a cabinet meeting on Monday, May 15, council bosses said they were “struggling” with over-spends.
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Councillor Craig Cheney, deputy mayor responsible for finance, said: “The main financial challenge for schools is the high needs block, which has an in-year overspend of £16.2 million, resulting from an increase in education, health and care plans.”
Many parents and carers in Bristol face months of delays to securing an education, health and care plan for their children — and an increasing number are now taking the council to court, unhappy with special educational needs provision. The council also makes top-up payments to schools and pupil referral units for children with special educational needs.
Another area causing overspend is children looked after by the council, who have been taken into care. Last year the children and families service spent £6.5 million more than its £85.8 million budget. Half of this budget was spent on placements for children in care — including £15,612,000 on very expensive out-of-county placements, where children are sent to a home outside of Bristol.
Cllr Asher Craig, deputy mayor responsible for children’s services and education, said: “We continue to struggle with an over-spend on out-of-county placements. We’re working really hard on this. We’re going to increase the number of children’s homes, but that’s still not going to necessarily address the situation.
“But I know that the staff team is working really hard. This is an issue not only affecting Bristol City Council but every single local authority in the country. So we’re not in this alone.”
