AN INVESTIGATION has found some Slough children with special needs are forced to travel more than 100 miles to get an education.
Findings from the Bureau of Investigative Journalism (BIJ) have discovered seven children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) are travelling more than 100 miles for educational purposes – with one having to travel all the way to Wales.
The data shows one SEND child is having to travel all the way to Haverfordwest, Wales, which is about 220 miles away. Another is travelling 197 miles to get an education in Liverpool.
Other notables include one travelling to Stockport (185 miles), two in Devon (140 miles), and another two journeying to Shropshire (121 miles).
Overall, there are 40 Slough SEND children having to travel more than 20 miles for educational purposes.
Stephen Kingdom of the Disabled Children’s Partnership, a coalition of 100 children’s and disability charities, said BIJ’s investigation exposed “worrying data” about the distance disabled children are travelling just to go to school.
According to BIJ data, which was obtained by submitting a Freedom of Information request to local authorities, the borough has 1,729 children with an education, health, and care plan. This is a document that summaries a disabled child’s needs.
Three hundred and twenty SEND children with an EHC are placed outside Slough. However, 96 SEND children with an EHC from different councils have placements in Slough.
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The council’s dedicated schools grant (DSG), a ring-fenced allocation of government money to fund schools, including EHC plans, deficit has grown from £4.6m in 2016/17 to £19.8m.
Chief finance officer Steven Mair has warned this could grow to £43m in two years if no action is taken.
The council will be trying to balance the deficit in year, meaning they will try to stabilise the deficit by no longer overspending. Once that is sorted, the Department for Education (DfE) will engage with the council and be ‘minded to’ assist in reducing this gap.
Councillor Christine Hulme (Lab: Central), lead member for children’s services, said at the budget full council meeting in March the council will participate in the DfE’s ‘safety value’ intervention with the aim to agree on a reform package to SEND and bring the deficit under control.
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She said: “Some progress has already been made on this year’s DSG deficit and a reduction of £2.3m has been applied to last year.”
Slough Borough Council was contacted for comment.
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