A plea has been made for West Devon Borough Council to support families whose children aren’t going to school because of problems in the education system, writes Alison Stephenson.

Cllr Holly Greenberry-Pullen (Lib Dem, Tavistock North) said youngsters face long periods of time out of school because of delays in getting Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCPs) for them.

She fears that cuts Devon County Council could make to address its overspend in provision for children with special educational needs and disabilities (Send) will lead to more social problems.

At West Devon Borough Council’s overview and scrutiny committee Cllr Greenberry-Pullen said she didn’t believe integrating more children back into mainstream schools is necessarily the right thing to do and is concerned about EHCP applications being rejected.

Around 10,000 children in the Devon County Council area have such plans, which outline special educational needs and the support they require.

It is more than a target covered by a £95 million Safety Value deal agreed between the county council and the Department of Education last year.

The government cash is paid over nine years in return for the county council making improvements and savings in its Send services.

Cllr Greenberry-Pullen said although many EHCP rejections had been overturned on appeal, the time it takes means children could be out of school for a year, and claimed the number of ECHPs would have to reduce: “forcing children  into mainstream schools who already couldn’t manage that environment.”

During a debate on community wellbeing, she said support in West Devon could be extended to children in ‘alternative education’ or who are home schooled.

“Is there an opportunity to look into how we can work to support our community members, from support or an injection of funding?” she asked. “This endeavour to cut funding means we will see a huge increase in social problems within our community.

“Perhaps we can provide a space for families to come together once a month because they are in dire crisis at the moment. We need to provide support where we can because there isn’t the support coming from Devon County Council due to this Safety Valve.”

Cllr Greenberry Pullen has been a long-term campaigner for more funding for children with Send.

Lead member for community wellbeing Jane Elliot (Green, Chagford) said it is important for the council to recognise groups that are “falling through the net”.

But she said the council’s community team would engage with partners like the Council for Voluntary Service (CVS) as the authority is not in a position to provide individual support.

“We have a lot of statutory services that we have to provide and we must make sure we carry on with business as usual and we don’t see ourselves as putting sticking plasters on.

The Local Democracy Reporting Service recently reported that Devon Council Council was expecting a £31 million overspend in its education budget for the financial year ending in April, but now believes the overshoot will be more than £51 million.

That will take its cumulative deficit to £132 million instead of a targeted £111 million.