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Dedicated Schools Grant: Debts

Asked by Damian HindsConservativeDepartment for EducationTabled Answered 4 March 2026UIN 112587

The question

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the write-off of 90 per cent of the High Needs block debts of English councils on the amount of SEND funding to be absorbed into her Department's Resource Departmental Expenditure Limits from 2028-29 .

Answered by Georgia Gould

The High Needs Stability Grant is concerned with historic spending and will have no impact on pressures in 2028/29. From the 2028/29 financial year, the government has confirmed that special educational needs and disabilities pressure will be absorbed within the overall government departmental expenditure limits budget such that the government would not expect local authorities to need to fund future special educational needs costs from general funds. Budgets from 2028/29 onwards, including the core schools budget, will be confirmed at the 2027 Spending Review.

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