More than a third of councils also class spending on children’s services, including SEND, as a major long-term budget pressure, second only to adult social care.
The findings have emerged in the Local Government Information Unit’s latest report on the state of local government finance in England.
It states: “There was an overwhelming consensus that children’s services and special educational needs spending was the most pressing of the pressures facing upper-tier councils. The increasing costs of home-to-school transport and inadequacies in the legislation were raised as causing financial pressures and failing to provide adequate services.”
The report warns that communities will see cutbacks to local neighbourhood services this year – such as waste collection, road repairs, library and leisure services – as they struggle to plug funding gaps in areas like social care.
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