Robust questioning at the latest Audit and Governance Committee revealed that Cheshire East currently has no plan to resolve the current £113million debt in Special Educational Needs.
At Monday’s meeting of Audit and Governance, the Committee Chair, Conservative Councillor Mike Beanland was told that there was no plan to resolve the deficit but they hoped that mitigation measures would slow the increase in the debt!
Shockingly, it was this debt that was supposed to be discussed at an earlier meeting of the SEND Oversight Board last week, which was cancelled at short notice. This Board is supposed to tackle the enormous Direct Schools Grant for High Needs Education Provision (DSG) but in fact, has met only ONCE since it was established over a year ago.
The DSG Debt (euphemistically categorised as a “Deficit Reserve”) is not unique to CEC but Cheshire East is an extreme outlier when compared to other Local Authorities. This Council’s DSG Debt exceeds the cumulative DSG debts of ALL its surrounding NW Authorities combined!
All the more reason then that residents should be concerned that Cheshire East Council still appears to have no coherent plan to start reducing the baseline debt, which would in turn reduce the necessity for rising annual borrowing (and interest rates) that such unmanaged debt inevitable creates.
At the start of 2024-25 the DSG deficit reserve stood at approximately £110m.The most recent figures suggest that by the end of 2025-26, that debt will have increased to £146m, despite reductions in numbers of EHCPs (Education, Health & Care Plans) being issued.
This is, quite simply, an unsustainable position.
