Dear Editor,
In 2019, Children’s Services had a £1.6 million surplus.
However, the Labour-Independent administration has since accrued Special Needs debts of £90 million, which if not addressed will rise to £1.2billion by 2031.
This year alone, interest costs are £6 million.
The rising costs of Special Needs is an issue for all Councils, but Cheshire East Council is a national ‘outlier’ with debts described by Government as “unprecedented”.
CEC’s debt mitigation programme following their invitation to join the Government’s Safety Valve Programme, claims to make nearly £1 billion savings over the next seven years, but they admit they can’t demonstrate how to reduce the £248m historic deficit.
The high-level, programme objectives lack detail of how savings will be achieved, with many progress measures not yet developed.
New special needs schools are years away from delivery, and mechanisms for equitable SEN assessment are not yet “embedded” across the multi-agency system.
The real “elephant in the room”, that has not been answered, is how did high needs plans (EHCPs) rise by 18% last year (compared to national averages of just 9%)? And how did the debt evolve without correction?
If CEC won’t acknowledge the mechanisms by which they accrued this unprecedented debt, we can’t have confidence that CEC can control it.
The Department of Education has therefore asked CEC to work directly with them, to develop robust strategies to comply with entry to the Safety Valve Programme, without which, this unprecedented debt threatens the viability of the whole Council.
Yours,
Cllr Janet Clowes
Conservative Group Leader
Cheshire East Council
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