A LACK of funding for special needs education in Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole has left councils “between a rock and a hard place”, a senior council officer has claimed.

Bournemouth and Poole councils’ assistant chief financial officer said that there was “not enough money in the system” with the conurbation facing a shortfall of £4.8 million.

In order to plug the gap, this year £2.4 million is being taken from the budgets of mainstream schools along with £2.2 million from council reserves.

On Thursday, members of the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole shadow authority scrutiny committee gave their backing to the planned education funding arrangements.

The draft budget for 2019/20 would see the amount spent on children with complex needs rise to almost £39 million.

Demand has increased on the budget as a result of a 2014 change which extended the age of those the council had a duty to support from 19 to 25 as well as a rising number of permanent exclusions.

Speaking on Thursday, Nicola Webb, Bournemouth and Poole councils’ assistant chief financial officer, said that councils needed more financial support from the government.

“High needs block funding is a national problem and it’s one that’s still growing,” she said.

“It has put us between a rock and a hard place – there’s not enough money in the system.

“We are going to continue to lobby the government around this position but at the moment we are having to park that deficit.”

In December, the government announced an extra £250 million over the next two years to help plug councils’ funding gaps.

However, the Local Government Association has estimated that the national shortfall faced by councils is £536 million.

Of the new government funding, Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole councils received a total of £800,000, which reduced its funding deficit for 2019/20 from £5.6 million to the existing £4.8 million gap.