Call for action as Wiltshire is one of lowest funded for education in the country

School leaders are joining with Wiltshire Council to call on local MPs to address the major gaps between funding for pupils in Wiltshire compared to other parts of the country.

Wiltshire Council is a member of the f40 group—a coalition of the UK’s 43 lowest-funded local authorities. The council continues to receive significantly less per pupil than many other areas. Despite rising costs and increasing demand, the county ranks 18th lowest out of 151 for mainstream school funding and 20th lowest for high needs SEND funding for 2025–2026.

Wiltshire receives one third less (36.46%) than the highest funded local authority Camden for its gross Dedicated Schools Grant for all children and young people. Wiltshire receives two thirds less (69.64%) than the highest funded local authority Camden for its high needs funding for children and young people with Special Educational Need and/or Disabilities (SEND). It has been calculated if Wiltshire was funded at Camden’s rate for high needs the forecast deficit for Safety Valve would be completely removed.

Cllr Jon Hubbard, Cabinet Member for Children’s Services, Education and Skills at Wiltshire Council, is writing to MPs to urge them to attend the f40 Parliamentary event on 1 July 2025 and represent the voices of Wiltshire’s school leaders in Westminster.

He said: “This is about fairness, opportunity, and the future of our children. Wiltshire’s teachers and pupils are being short-changed. The gap between our funding and that of the highest-funded areas is staggering. Our educators do incredible work, but they need fair funding to give every child the opportunities they deserve. I’m urging our MPs to stand with us and call for change.

“I was shocked to learn that if we’d received the same funding as the top funded local authority, we wouldn’t have Safety Valve to manage as our forecast deficit would be completely removed. The disparity between the highest and lowest funded authorities in the country is far too wide and means that the children and young people in Wiltshire are at a significant disadvantage compared to their peers.”

Cllr Laura Mayes, Chair of the Children’s Select Committee, said: “This renewed push for fairer funding is so important. We’re uniting local voices to ensure this issue is raised in Parliament. Every child, regardless of postcode, deserves equal access to quality education.”

Lisa Percy, Headteacher at Hardenhuish School and Chair of the Wiltshire Schools Forum explained: “We’re proud of the high standards we maintain, but with fairer funding, we could do even more. I welcome this campaign and hope our MPs will be strong advocates for Wiltshire’s children.”

For Wiltshire, the following points from the f40 group 25/26 campaign are key to funding:

• Substantially more investment required in mainstream education
• Funding formulae for schools and SEND to be improved so they are fair and the lowest funded area lifted up to ensure all pupils receive equal opportunities and funding
• Additional SEND funding across the country
• A government commitment to recover the SEND crisis and pay off accumulated SEND deficits

Wiltshire is part of the Department for Education’s (DfE) Safety Valve programme, which supports local authorities facing significant or rapidly growing deficits in the High Needs Block of the Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG). While Wiltshire is undertaking a substantial programme of transformation, the level of high needs funding remains a major challenge. Wiltshire’s 2024/25 DSG year-end deficit was £61.190m and this is forecast to be £96.050m at the end of 2025/26 financial year.