Dudley Council is paying up to £160,000 a year to place a single pupil in a private special needs school.
Special educational needs and disability (SEND) pupils are placed in independent schools by tribunals which handle appeals against local authority decisions on special educational needs.
The average cost for an independent schools place is £70,000 per year while the cost of an equivalent placement in a council-run facility is between £35,000 and £40,000.
The eye-watering costs for the 260 SEND pupils from Dudley in independent schools, which added up to £14.9m in the last financial year, are revealed in a report for the council’s Social Care and Wellbeing Scrutiny Committee which is set to meet on September 8.
Councillor Wayne Little, Dudley cabinet member for children’s services and education, said: “We are dedicated to delivering the best possible services for our children and young people and providing assurance through our rigorous scrutiny process.
“SEND provision is complex and each child is unique, requiring tailored provision and support to meet their individual needs.”
The committee report, signed by Gerard Jones, interim director of Dudley children’s services said: “The placement costs are the significant pressure on the High Needs Block as part of the Designated School Grant (DSG).
“The SEND reforms that are due to be announced in the autumn term may provide some understanding around the High Needs Block overspend, but there is no detail at present.
“Investment to ensure timely responses and identification of appropriate and cost-effective placements will allow substantial savings.”
The report also highlights the pressure Dudley children’s services is under due to rising demand.
It says, during 2025/25 the council’s Education Psychology Service (EPS) received 737 requests for a Education, Health and Care Needs Assessment (ECHNA) which is a 49 percent increase on the 496 requests received during the previous year.
The report goes on to reveal there is no extra funding for the department to cope with the increase, which mirrors a national trend in extra demand.
The extra demand without more funding means more assessments were not being completed within the statutory 20-week time line.
Data released by the council after the report was written reveals out of 712 statutory assessments completed by educational psychologists in 2024/25, a total of 452 were completed outside the statutory time frame.
A Dudley Council spokesperson said: “We currently have two full-time vacancies but we would need more capacity than this if we were to meet the demand of forecasted EHCNA requests.
“It should be noted there is a national shortage of educational psychologists into full-time permanent positions, so recruitment may remain a challenge even if additional full-time positions were resourced.”
The report for the committee added: “The education and SEND team are looking at different options to ensure that the assessments can be caught up, using ‘supply’ educational psychologists (EPs) to support this work, using savings and grants from other areas.
“This may have an impact on other areas but this is the priority for the service and the children it services.”
Cllr Little added: “Our committed staff work tirelessly to process every assessment, as promptly as possible to ensure the right support pathways are in place for every child and young person referred to us.
“We will continue to work closely with families and providers to offer the most appropriate support we can, to our children and young people.”
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