Rising demand and costs for special educational needs places mean schools in the borough are on course to spend £4 million more than planned.

The Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead (RBWM) says it has seen a ‘significant increase’ in the amount it has had to spend on special educational needs compared to previous years.

It comes as rising demand and costs for those services is putting councils across the UK under strain.

In total, RBWM says it could spend £4.7 million more on its ‘high needs block’ budget – the pot of money allocated to special educational needs – than it had planned to this year.

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More than half of this is to be spent on college pupils over the age of 16. The council says this is because the number of college pupils with special educational needs has increased by 26, while the average cost per pupil has risen by £4,000.

It also says its spending on post-16 independent schooling has ‘increased significantly’ since last year and is expected to reach £1.7 million.

The number of children needing special school places has also increased – meaning RBWM has struggled to find places for them all inside the borough.

The overspend in the overall schools budget is offset slightly by lower-than-expected costs in mainstream and early years spending. This will bring the total overspend down to just over £4 million.