This report recommends actions for 2018/19 and 2019/20 to ensure high needs expenditure remains within budget for the next two financial years whilst a fundamental review of high needs services and costs is undertaken.

The item began with a presentation by the head of additional needs. The key points noted were:

·         the high needs budget for 2016/17 had not yet overspent and although warnings had been issued about a possible overspend based on forecasts it was hoped that spend for this year would come in on budget;

·         longer term forecasts projected difficulties if current level of demand continued;

·         there were a number of areas of growth in demand plus additional responsibilities which had been given to local authorities without significant increase in funding;

·         other authorities were reporting similar difficulties and many were already overspending on their high needs budget, Herefordshire was in a relatively good position but could not be complacent;

·         efforts were being made to ensure the point of entry to the system was robust - a headteacher and other senior school staff members had been added to the SEN referral panel, the principal education psychologist would be double checking referrals in addition to the caseworker and the SEN Team Manager, evidence requirements would be strictly applied and a period before reapplications could be made was being considered;

·         the descriptors in the matrix would be reviewed and made clearer over the summer term;

·         the service would consider trading some services, for example for hearing and visual impairment, but this would need to be carefully considered against the risks of pupils being overlooked if schools did not buy back services;

·         any changes to central services needed to be carefully considered - once removed they could be difficult to reinstate as specialist staff would move on and care needed to be taken to understand the interrelations between services to avoid unintended consequences for schools and pupils;

·         partnership working would be an important part of the way forward, options to be considered could include devolving some finance to partnerships of schools to manage on the basis that once funds were exhausted the partnership would need to make up any shortfall;

·         the vast majority of the high needs budget (approx. £8.5m out of £12.3m) was currently spent on commissioned places and top ups for mainstream, post-16 special schools and the PRU, if the budget was overspending on top ups it was unlikely that savings on the smaller items of spend would be sufficient to compensate.

The presentation was discussed and the following points made:

·         there was ongoing dialogue with headteachers both individually and through phase groups;

·         a recent conference on emotional wellbeing had discussed whole school approaches to social, emotional and mental health; any other forums to discuss this would be welcomed;

·         this was a national issue and efforts were being made to identify good practice and possible solutions from other authorities, however not all solutions would necessarily transfer easily to Herefordshire;

·         support from the health sector for pupils with medical needs was not always forthcoming - Health Care Plans should be made available to a school and some schools had reported difficulty getting advice – work was continuing to improve links;

·         the clinical support that had  ...  view the full minutes text for item 25