We established the group in January 2024, as a collective of parents, carers, young people, teachers, unions and other stakeholders. We formed in response to BCP's Safety Valve proposal, which would see significant cuts to school funding and to provision for children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND). Stopping Safety Valve is our current focus due to the far-reaching implications, but we plan to continue working together on issues affecting local education and families.

It's a Government scheme which requires councils to reduce their spend on SEND services, by reducing those services. Participants must meet local cost-saving targets, in order to qualify for additional funding. 38 councils have been taken into the scheme so far. Some are already failing to meet their targets, and have had their funding withheld. DfE have stated that involvement in the programme is "entirely voluntary".

You can read an in-depth explanation of Safety Valve and the implications, here.

Councils argue that funding from central government isn't enough to meet their legal obligations. The f40 group of councils is campaigning for an additional £4.6bn p.a. in funding for SEND services across England. As a result, councils have been spending more on SEND services than they receive in funding. The 10-year accumulated overspend across England is estimated to be over £2.3bn. These soaring numbers are separated from council budgets until 2026 - but as soon as the protection is lifted, all councils will be exposed to these deficits. Most would then be expected to declare insolvency.

Yes. Safety Valve will cause a range of issues for local mainstream schools which will all have a negative effect on children, families and teachers. The School Cuts website shows that BCP schools are already facing real-terms cuts of £8.4m in 2024/5, with an average cut per pupil of £176 (but as much as £451 per pupil).

BCP have taken 0.5% from the Dedicated Schools Grant in 2024/5, and their now-rejected 15 year proposal involved taking 1% per year after that - this means a £1.3m cut this year, £2.7m cut next year, and getting worse from there. These cuts have already taken some schools below the minimum per pupil funding level (MPPFL). The rejection of the submitted Safety Valve plan does not mean these cuts won't happen.

Schools, headteachers and education unions are clear that they cannot afford this. They are already struggling to fund the basics.

On top of this, Safety Valve agreements hinge on placing more children with SEND into mainstream schools, without sufficient funding to support their needs. This will cause issues not only for disabled pupils, but for all children in all schools across BCP.

Yes, we have a national petition asking the government to suspend the Safety Valve agreement and clear SEND deficits. You can add your name to the supporters here.

No. Councils are already breaching legal requirements, and many of our most vulnerable children are already being failed. In 2022-23, local authorities lost over 98% of all SEND tribunal cases. Many local authorities are failing to meet the most basic requirements of the law, breaching legal timescales for issuing EHCPs in the vast majority of cases.

But Safety Valve doesn't change the law - and BCP have recognised that it would actually make the council more vulnerable to legal challenges. There have been suggestions in the media, local authorities and government that parents are to blame for increasing "demand" and costs but that is not reality - parents are simply fighting for their child's legal right to an accessible education.

In July 2023, BCP were invited by the Department for Education to draft a Safety Valve proposal, in order to lower the overspend from £28m p.a. to £0, over a 15-year period. DfE rejected the plan as it was too slow and costly, which begs the question: what have local authorities with shorter plans agreed to do?

The plan has been published following a legal letter, and confirms the issues we have been campaigning against.

No. This was confirmed by officers in a committee meeting on 23rd January. BCP is already carrying over £63m in accumulated deficit. This is big enough to sink council finances in 2026, as soon as the protective override is removed. But the Safety Valve plan won't touch a penny of that legacy overspend - it only looks at future costs.

The proposal put to schools in January was to transfer 0.5% of funding in Y1, and 1% per year subsequently. BCP council agreed to the 0.5% cut despite school objections, and this was signed off by the DfE, taking some schools in BCP below the Minimum Per Pupil Funding Level (MPPFL). This money won’t be spent on services - it goes into the deficit payoff pot.

Educators are concerned that resources are at breaking point, and the situation is untenable. They have stated that they're already unable to fully meet the needs of children with SEND, and further cuts at any level will exacerbate this and trigger more redundancies. Data collated on the School Cuts website shows that BCP schools are already facing a real terms loss of £8.4m for 2024/5, with some schools losing the equivalent of £451 per pupil.

The reduction of services is hard-wired into Safety Valve. Y1 would have seen EHCP approvals halved, with further reductions expected. This would be based not on need, but on quota. It would also target special school placements, services for 16+, and a range of other SEND services.

The proposal also makes a number of assumptions around early plan cessation, placing more disabled children in mainstream reducing alternative provision and the number of exclusions.

We have always been concerned that the 15 year plan would not be achievable, but even this has been rejected by DfE as not fast or harsh enough. As negotiations are continuing, we have grave concerns about what a shorter plan might include.

At the children's services committee meeting on 23rd January, we heard the testimonies of many young people and parents. They described the trauma of having their needs unmet, and in some cases being unable to access school altogether. Towards the end of 2023, more than half of all EHCP assessment requests were rejected by BCP, and families are concerned that Safety Valve would make this crisis worse.

The effect on families can be devastating, with many parents unable to work, and many children deteriorating while they wait for the support they need. The barriers in bringing traumatised children back into education are huge, and the whole experience can cause lifelong setbacks.

We recognise that Safety Valve itself cannot save BCP from bankruptcy. The problem is too big, as MPs are starting to realise. And if the government doesn't take action nationally, then BCP will be one of dozens of English councils falling off the SEND tightrope.

To the government, we ask for measures to protect all councils from their deficits, and to address SEND funding, as a matter of national urgency. You can sign the national petition here.

To BCP Council, we are asking them to ensure their statutory and public sector equality duties are met, and for officers to consult urgently with those affected as negotiations continue.