Wiltshire Council calls for fairer education funding as disparities persist

Wiltshire Council is urging local MPs to back its call for fairer education funding, highlighting major gaps between funding for pupils in Wiltshire compared to other parts of the country.

As a member of the f40 group - a coalition of the UK’s 43 lowest-funded local authorities - Wiltshire continues to receive significantly less funding per pupil than many other areas. Despite rising costs and increasing demand, Wiltshire ranks 23rd lowest for mainstream funding and 25th for high needs SEND funding out of 151 local authorities for 2026–2027.

Wiltshire receives 36.1% less than the highest funded local authority, Hackney, for its gross Dedicated Schools Grant for all children and young people. Wiltshire receives 70% less than the highest funded local authority, Camden, for its high needs funding for children and young people with Special Educational Needs and/or Disabilities (SEND). It has been calculated that if Wiltshire were funded at Camden's rate for high needs, the forecast deficit for Safety Valve would be completely removed.

As the Government prepares to publish the Schools White Paper and announce anticipated reforms to SEND, the f40 group is calling for reforms that are robust, fully funded, and capable of addressing the current crisis.

Cllr Jon Hubbard, Cabinet Member for Children's Services, SEND, Education and Skills, said: “Wiltshire’s children are being failed by a funding system that is plainly unjust. The gap between what our pupils receive and what children in places like Camden and Hackney are funded at is nothing short of indefensible. Our schools and families are being expected to do more and more with significantly less, and it is putting our young people at a real and measurable disadvantage.

“We have dedicated staff doing extraordinary work, but goodwill alone cannot close a funding gap of this scale. If Wiltshire were funded at the level of the highest‑funded authorities, our Safety Valve deficit wouldn’t exist — that should set alarm bells ringing in Westminster.

“This isn’t a marginal issue. It’s a systemic failure that is holding back thousands of children. We cannot and will not stop highlighting this injustice. Wiltshire’s children deserve the same opportunities as every other child in this country, and we will keep pressing for a fair, transparent national funding system that finally treats them with the respect they deserve.”

Jackie Fieldwick, CEO of Brunel Academies Trust and Uplands Enterprise Trust, which has special schools and mainstream schools with resource base provision in the Wiltshire area, said: “While all schools are struggling to balance their budgets following a series of constrained funding settlements, the challenges are greater for the lowest funded areas. All schools are having to make difficult decisions, but those in receipt of the smallest budgets are forced to make even more cuts. Often this leads to a reduction in key teaching staff, resources, and extra-curricular activities.

"We know Government accepts that the funding system is not working and that it feels strongly that no child should be worth less than another. Now is the time to review the whole education funding system, so we have a fairer, more transparent, responsive system that supports all schools and all pupils equally."

Currently demand for SEND support far outstrips funding. Local authorities in England are estimated to have a cumulative SEND deficit of £6 billion by April 2026, which will continue to grow unless changes are made.

For more information about f40, and to view funding graphs that show the disparity in education funding across all local authorities in England, go to https://www.f40.org.uk/

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 2025/26 DSG in-year deficit is 49.405m, and this is forecast to be at £104.530m at the end of the 2025/26 financial year.