Portsmouth’s schools face a £1.05m funding gap as rising SEND costs put growing pressure on the council’s education budget and reserves.
Portsmouth’s Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) is forecast to overspend by £1.05m this year, increasing Portsmouth’s existing carry-forward deficit to £2.06m,
Mainstream school funding is expected to remain within budget, while some unallocated growth and contingency funding could be carried forward into 2027-28.
Early years funding is forecast to overspend by £13,000, mainly due to higher pupil numbers increasing teachers’ pay and pension costs.
The biggest pressure is in the high needs budget, which sets out funding for special educational needs and education (SEND), which is expected to overspend by £524,300.
This is partly due to around 30 more full-time equivalent pupils with education, health and care plans being supported in mainstream schools than budgeted.
When combined with the net reserve balance of £515,000, this results in an overall deficit of £1.05m.
Other pressures include increased numbers in special schools, rising post-16 numbers at The City of Portsmouth College and higher costs for pupils placed outside Portsmouth.
Sean Preston CFO of the Hamwic Education Trust asked about the certainty of the £1m deficit, as it’s driven by an assumption of a SEND funding shortfall of £7.5m.
In response, Richard Webb, the council’s deputy director of finance and resources said that shortfall might be closer to £8m and that there is “certainty” most of the reserves will be used by the end of the financial year.
Nathan Caine, the council’s director of education said there’s been “turbulence in our availability of state-run special school provision within the city which means we’ve had limited options and greater reliance of out of city placements.”
“We have been reliant of the independent sector to a greater extend that we would otherwise wish to – we hope that will be a temporary position.”
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