SUFFOLK is set to receive more than £9 million in Government funding for special needs care.

The Government has announced a £126.6 million funding package to deliver around 1,000 places for children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) in the East of England.

For Suffolk, this equates to about £9.4 million extra in High Needs Funding, the portion of the council's Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) used to provide additional resources for SEND care delivery.

The money is aimed at delivering adaptations, expanding specialist units in mainstream schools and creating places in special schools.

It comes ahead of Tuesday's (25 March) Suffolk County Council discussion on how to spend its SEND capital program, with recommendations to refurbish and extend spaces within mainstream and special schools to deliver extra placements.

According to the Government, there was a shortfall of 700 secondary school special places in May 2024 in the East of England.

Bridget Phillipson, education secretary, said the money was a big step toward delivering the right school places to support SEND children.

She said: "This investment will give children with SEND the support they need to thrive, marking the start of a turning point for families who have been fighting to improve their children's outcomes."

A spokesperson for the council said the extra money will be used for future projects but no decision had been made on what it will be used for as yet due to its recency.

The funding will not affect the 200 extra places the council is hoping to deliver.

Despite the extra cash, however, the county council is still facing significant pressure on its High Needs Funding, with expenditure forecasted to increase by £23.3 million this upcoming financial year and £27.3 million the year after, according to last month's budget papers.

The extra spending will add to the council's ballooning DSG reserve shortfall, predicted to reach a negative £358.7 million by 2027.

As it stands, the council is able to overspend its DSG allocation through what is known as 'statutory override' until March 2026 without it affecting its own books.

Although the authority said it expected the Government to extend the statutory override past its due date, it still had no detail on whether this would happen.