| SPOTLIGHT |
A judicial review claim has been launched against Bristol City Council, challenging its decision to enter into a ‘safety valve agreement’ with the Department for Education.
This comes after a similar claim was issued against Devon County Council on behalf of a child last month.
Safety valve agreements (SVAs) are written agreements by individual local authorities with the Department for Education (DfE), agreeing that the DfE will “bail out” local authorities that have over-spent on their special educational needs budgets.
In exchange for financial assistance, local authorities are asked to agree to a plan which will eventually return them to a point where their spending is within budget.
In March this year, Bristol City Council announced it will receive £53.79 million over a period of seven years to address its historic dedicated schools grant (DSG) deficit.
The council said: “The agreement with the DfE provides an opportunity for Bristol to help improve outcomes for children and young people with SEND [special educational needs and disabilities], whilst operating in a financially sustainable way. It also means that Bristol City Council will invest up to £46.5 million as part of the programme.”
It added: “The current DSG deficit for Bristol is over £53 million and, if it remains unmitigated, is expected to rise to over £133 million by 2025-26.”
The claim was brought by west country law firm Watkins Solicitors who instructed Dr Alice Irving, Barrister at Doughty Street Chambers. The application is awaiting a permission decision.
The claimant lawyers did not want to provide detail on the grounds until after a permission decision has been made, the grounds of the similar Devon claim issued last month include that the council’s decision to enter into the Safety Valve Agreement (SVA) was ‘irrational’ and that it breached section 149 of the Equality Act 2010, which requires public bodies to consider the impact of any decision on people with protected characteristics.
The parent in the Devon case was concerned that the council’s commitment to significant reductions to its SEND spending as part of the SVA “may result in their child’s needs, and the needs of other children and young people in Devon, not being met”.
Law firm Rook Irwin Sweeney, who issued the first claim against Devon, warned there are “serious concerns” about the lawfulness of SVAs, including amongst charities and commentators in the SEND community, who are concerned that SVAs amount to “binding commitments by local authorities to make cuts to SEND provision in such a way that may undermine their ability to comply with their legal duties to meet children and young people’s special educational needs”. That claim is also awaiting a permission decision.
A Bristol City Council spokesperson said: “We are unable to comment on legal matters.”
Lottie Winson
