Some Oxfordshire children with special needs educated hours away from home
The county council has paid at least £26.3m to specialist education providers in the last year
Hundreds of Oxfordshire children and young people with special needs were being educated outside the county last month, with some as far away as North Wales.
Figures obtained by the Oxfordshire Independent show 390 young people who had been given education, health and care plans (EHCPs) were being educated outside the county at the end of July.
In June, Oxfordshire County Council’s deputy leader Liz Brighouse said the authority desperately needed extra government support after it accrued a “massive overspend” of about £17m in its higher needs budget for 2022/23.
That was partly brought about by paying for residential placements at special schools outside Oxfordshire.
But Cllr Brighouse said the council is looking to provide new places within the county as soon as possible.
The County Councils Network also said in June that without extra funding for special needs support, the total deficit for 152 authorities nationally could soar to £3.6bn.
A freedom of information request returned by the council showed that many of Oxfordshire’s young people were being educated in neighbouring counties.
A total of 79 children went to schools in Buckinghamshire, along with 45 in Warwickshire, 26 in West Northamptonshire and 25 in Gloucestershire.
But others were educated in Gwynedd, Denbighshire, Wrexham and Carmarthenshire, all in Wales, and a lengthy drive from Oxfordshire.
The authority refused to say how many young people were educated in a particular council area - including all of those in Wales - if fewer than five pupils were based there.
Others were being educated in Birmingham, Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire.
Cllr Brighouse said in June: “We are looking at providing more places of our own so that we don’t have a situation where you have to send children to these very, very expensive - very often out of county - placements that are not necessarily meeting the needs of the children even though they’re costing such an enormous amount of money.”
Some specialist placements are understood to cost councils up to £10,000 a week.
A new free special school is set to open in Bloxham Grove, near Banbury, in January, with another school in Faringdon due to follow.
Cllr Brighouse added that some authorities could face bankruptcy if central government does not “step in and deal with massive deficits” councils are being forced to stump up as demand for special needs education rises.
The council said earlier this summer that initial requests for EHCPs had increased by 23% nationally.
According to its own documents, high cost special school placements cost the council at least £26.3m between July 2022 and June.
That includes £3.8m paid to an outstanding Wheatley independent special school.
It paid about £1.3m in September 2022, £1.2m last December and £1.3m in April to Chilworth House School, which was given the best possible rating by Ofsted in 2019.
Of the 390 young people being educated outside Oxfordshire, 206 were in private placements. The other 184 were being educated in the state sector.