Tax up 5% as council warns on special needs costs

The financial future of Warwickshire County Council is "in serious question", officials have told councillors.

Council bosses said the cost of supporting children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) threatened its future "without a national solution".

The comments came in a report to the Conservative-controlled authority ahead of a vote to pass its annual budget on Thursday.

A council tax rise of 4.99% was voted through along with wide-ranging cuts to services as the authority worked to deliver £21.8m of reductions over the next financial year and £79.6m by 2030.

The tax rise will mean an increase of about £86 a year for a typical band D property.

However the exact amount people pay will change depending on rises agreed by their local district and borough councils as well as the county's fire and police services.

The SEND funding shortfall is expected to reach £84.7m by April 2026 – equivalent to about 13% of the council's annual budget.

Councils across the country are waiting for the government to announce support to tackle the costs in the spring Budget.

The issue was addressed by council officers in a written statement to the authority which read: "Without a national solution, this council's financial sustainability is in serious question like the majority of upper-tier councils."

Rob Powell, the council's executive director for resources, wrote: "This is Warwickshire County Council's largest financial risk and I cannot overstate the importance of an urgent, sustainable and just national resolution to a situation which is the direct result of national decisions."

Conservative councillor Peter Butlin, in charge of the council's finances, said despite the struggles the council was "in a relatively good financial position".

He pointed to the fact other councils, including neighbouring Birmingham, have this year been forced to get permission to increase their council tax above the cap of 5%.

But he did hit out at the Labour government for the pace of change in dealing with SEND provision costs adding: "Privately, I'm not optimistic as to how this will be resolved."

He said budget savings elsewhere would be delivered through better procurement, efficiency improvements, increased income to the council and reducing demand for services

The Labour opposition leader, councillor Sarah Feeney, pointed out the Conservative Party had 14 years in government to address the funding shortfall in SEND provision.

She said funding for the issue was "something that has been known about since 2020 as a huge crisis nationally and yet it was never resolved".

In Thursday's meeting, the council also committed to spending £4.813m of its £217.3m of reserves to support services this financial year.

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