90% Of £5bn SEND Deficits Already Written Off: What's Left For The Budget

The Budget is on 28 October and a governor has already asked what it will do to the school. A headteacher and a policy reader sort the answer into three columns: what was locked in the June 2025 Spending Review (£2bn real terms, 1.1% per pupil, £2.4bn a year for rebuilding); what was decided in February (90% of councils' £5bn historic SEND deficits written off, override extended to 2028); and the one thing genuinely open — the deficits building up after March 2026, "appropriate and proportionate, though it will not be unlimited." Then three checks to run on the day instead of saying "we'll see."

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Sources:

HM Treasury — Chancellor's letter to the Treasury Select Committee: Budget 2026 date (31 Jul 2026) — https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/chancellor-letter-to-the-treasury-select-committee-tsc-budget-2026-date

HM Treasury — Spending Review 2025 (11 Jun 2025) — https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/spending-review-2025-document/spending-review-2025-html

Explanatory note on the government's approach to Dedicated Schools Grant deficits (9 Feb 2026, updated 30 Jul 2026) — https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/explanatory-note-on-the-governments-approach-to-dedicated-schools-grant-deficits/explanatory-note-on-the-governments-approach-dedicated-schools-grant-deficits

Schools Week — Government to write off 90% of councils' SEND deficits (9 Feb 2026) — https://schoolsweek.co.uk/government-to-write-off-90-of-councils-send-deficits/

Tes — Government extends councils' statutory override (20 Jun 2025) — https://www.tes.com/magazine/news/general/send-funding-government-extends-councils-statutory-override

Both voices on this show are synthesised (NotebookLM, Google); the research, reading and editorial judgement are done by a serving practitioner.

Strand: Leaders