Government figures show that the council will receive a total of £341.4 million for the dedicated schools grant in 2025/26. This is up from £316.8 million in 2024/25 and £291.2 million in 2023/4.
However, speaking at Tuesday’s meeting (January 14) of the council’s cabinet, portfolio holder for education Cllr Guy Renner Thompson revealed the local authority would need to trim £3.7 million from its budget after the funding was confirmed.
He said: “The amount we have received to distribute to schools from Government is substantially less than we were expecting – about £3.7 million. We still have to discuss this with the Northumberland Schools Forum.
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“It means we are not going to be able to do some of the things we would have been ambitious to do. We’re not getting as much money as we thought we were going to get.”
It comes after council leader Glen Sanderson criticised the Government for the amount of money provided to the council itself. The Tory leader said the amount was around £2.5 million less than anticipated, despite the Government’s insistence it had upped funding by more than £20 million.
The leader was also concerned about funding for pupils with additional needs. Between 2017 and 2023, the number of children requiring an education and healthcare plan (EHCP) rose from 1,679 in 2017 to 3,369 in 2023 – an increase of 100.6% in just six years.
Cllr Sanderson said: “It is a somewhat disappointing settlement. I know the Schools Forum have been concerned about the increasing costs that we have to find.
“We have seen an extremely high increase in the number of SEND pupils. The fact that we haven’t received sufficient funding to help us with that is very disappointing.”
Asked for a response on the issue, a Government source said: “The Conservatives left behind a SEND system that is ‘lose, lose, lose’ in the words of their last Education Secretary, so bad that their own Shadow Minister said they should ‘hang their heads in shame’.
“This Labour government is determined to restore parents’ confidence and build a system where children can achieve and thrive, starting with a £1 billion investment at the Budget. It will once again fall to Labour to take the difficult decisions needed to clean up the Tories’ mess, fix the foundations and deliver change.”