Bristol City Council would face “probable financial disaster” without a controversial bailout of its schools budget, a court has been told. The bailout “changed nothing” in the educational support provided to disabled children, according to a barrister representing the city council.
Joanne Clement KC defended the council’s decision not to consult parents about the government bailout deal. Last year the council agreed to receive a £53 million bailout from the Department for Education, to address its ballooning deficit.
The Safety Valve agreement sparked fears among parents that their children would receive less support. But before the deal, the council was already planning changes to support for children with special educational needs and disabilities.
There was already a focus on supporting more children in mainstream schools rather than relying on expensive independent schools. This means the council didn’t need to consult parents, according to Ms Clement, as they had already done so several times before on the same themes. During a judicial review at the High Court, she said the Safety Valve deal was just a financial issue, and not a change in strategy.
Like many councils, Bristol has been spending more money on education than it has received from the government, leading to a growing financial black hole. For several years, the council has been working on a plan to manage its deficit. This work ramped up with the Safety Valve deal last year, but did not drastically change.
Parents and schools had already been consulted on this work, including early intervention and creating new specialist school places within Bristol, as well as making mainstream schools more inclusive. Previous versions of this work include the Delivering Better Value programme.
The Safety Valve deal also allowed the council to spend £43 million from its reserves to clear part of the schools deficit, as well as receive a £13 million grant to refurbish and expand Claremont Special School, creating 70 additional places.
Ms Clement said: “The Safety Valve agreement isn’t about provision, it’s about funding. There’s nothing new in terms of the strategic level of provision that’s introduced by the Safety Valve agreement. The council has already carried out extensive consultation and engagement. It’s not a cut of existing provision.”
The second day of the judicial review hearing, on Wednesday, January 29, focused on Bristol’s defence. The first day heard from the claimants, Watkins Solicitors, about views on why parents should have been consulted.
The hearing is due to last two and a half days. The judge is not expected to make a decision straight away, but instead produce a written judgement in a few weeks. This could include quashing the decision to sign up to the Safety Valve deal, but it’s unclear whether that means the council would have to pay back millions of pounds it’s already received.
Without the deal, Bristol would face a looming cliff edge, and legally would have to balance its schools budget by March next year. Otherwise there would be the risk of a “probable financial disaster”, the barrister said, with extensive budget cuts across the council and effective bankruptcy.
However Bristol isn’t alone in suffering a SEND crisis, and pressure is growing on the government to address the problem on a national scale. The hearing continues.