Council supports f40’s campaign for increased education funding

With the Government due to publish its Schools White Paper, which will set out the direction of travel for education, f40 is urging the government to ensure the reforms are powerful enough to solve the crisis and are backed by sufficient funding to enable schools to implement them.  

It is anticipated that the White Paper will bring reforms to Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND). 

The f40 group, which campaigns on behalf of 43 local authorities across the country for fairer and increased education funding, including Gloucestershire County Council, is hoping for a much clearer long-term vision for the education sector. It also believes education funding should be more fairly distributed and that every school should have enough funding to operate well.  

The group is campaigning for lasting change to the SEND system, prioritising early intervention for those children who need extra help, investment and resources for schools, and better inclusion of SEND children in mainstream education.  

With demand for SEND support currently outstripping funding, local authorities in England are estimated to have a cumulative SEND deficit of £6 billion by April 2026, which will continue to grow unless changes are made. 

f40 believes a firm commitment is required from Government to meet the cost of current and future SEND deficits to ensure councils are financially sustainable – until such point that the system is reformed and there is alignment between SEND policy and the funding required to deliver it. 

Cllr Linda Cohen, Cabinet member responsible for Education at Gloucestershire County Council, said: “We are proud to support f40 in this campaign for increased funding for education from the Government. 

“Our children and young people in Gloucestershire deserve the best possible education to be able to achieve their full potential. 

“Reforms to the education system will allow our schools to provide the education that every child in our county deserves.” 

Chair of f40, Councillor Alex Dale, said: “We welcome Government’s commitment to tackle the crisis in SEND, and hope they take this opportunity to really get to the root causes of the issues and make brave, lasting changes that benefit every child and school.  

“However, the reforms must be backed by funding, or schools and the reforms themselves will be set up to fail.  

“Whilst Government is focusing on education, it’s the perfect time to also improve the National Funding Formula to ensure money for schools is distributed more fairly. Currently, some schools receive more than £5,000 less per pupil than others, and only a third of the SEND funding that others get. That is fundamentally wrong. No child should be worth less than another.” 

For more information about f40, and to view funding graphs that show the disparity in education funding across all local authorities in England, go to https://www.f40.org.uk/.