THE cost of educating children in Wiltshire means Wiltshire Council predicts its school budget will fall short by £9.5m in 2020/21, due to the demands of children with special educational needs.

At its meeting on Tuesday, the Children’s Select Committee described this as ‘a significant concern’, and said that pressures from the Higher Needs Block (HNB) was outstripping the council’s budget.

The predicted deficit is in spite of the fact that the HNB was given an extra £4.9m in funding this year, the highest amount for the last decade.

If the prediction becomes reality, the council will implement its long-term recovery plan which will see the money taken off mainstream school funding.

The low level of funding was blamed on government’s funding formula being based on historic pupil numbers. However since 2014, the number of 'statemented' children with Education, Health and Care Plans has more than doubled.

The increase is partly due to a change in legislation where the Children and Families Act states that support should be given from birth up to the age of 25, the council say.

Director of education and skills Helean Hughes told councillors: “Our feeling is the funding hasn’t really followed the number that we’re trying to provide a service for.

“The pressure on our specialist services has increased and this has led to the overspend.

“Our base is much lower than it needs to be and the DfE has promised a review of that in two years time. Our hope is that our share of the proportional budget will increase.”

According to the report, of 149 local authorities, Wiltshire was ranked 15th lowest funded per pupil and the 105th worst for HNB funding.

Ms Hughes added: “We are concerned that schools will not benefit as the government intended from the increased school funding because so much of it will be used to pay off the debt – certainly in the first few years it will be tricky.

“The additional grant for high needs is most welcome, the additional funding for schools is most welcome, but it doesn’t address the level of need we’re seeing in Wiltshire.”