Councils warn delayed Send changes raise insolvency risk

Cash-strapped councils in England will be hit with hundreds of millions of pounds in extra costs after the government delayed tackling the £5bn deficits spent on supporting children and young people with special needs and disabilities.

- Richard Adams Kiran Stacey Patrick Butler

Council leaders and experts said the two-year delay prolonged the financial struggles of local authorities as they awaited a promised overhaul of special educational needs and disabilities (Send) provision, and warned it could force more councils into sell-offs and insolvency.

Councils have been allowed to keep high needs deficits off balance sheets thanks to a statutory override, which was due to end next April, creating a "cliff-edge" that threatened to bankrupt scores of local authorities. The government has now extended the override until April 2028.