Issue details

Proposed decision: to agree the Commissioning Plan for Education Provision in Kent 2027-31 and agree to note the annual review of the SEND Sufficiency Plan.

Reason for Decision and Background

Kent County Council (KCC), as the Local Authority (LA), has a statutory duty to ensure sufficient school places are available. The County Council’s Commissioning Plan for Education Provision in Kent 2027-31 (KCP) is a five-year rolling plan which is updated annually. It sets out our future plans as Strategic Commissioner of Education Provision across all types and phases of education in Kent.

The Plan sets out how we will carry out our responsibility for ensuring there are sufficient high quality places, in the right locations for all learners, while at the same time fulfilling our other responsibilities to raise education standards and promote parental preference.  The Plan details the expected future need for education provision, thereby enabling parents and education providers to put forward proposals as to how these needs might best be met.

This Plan reflects the dynamic and ongoing process of ensuring there are sufficient places for Kent children in schools, and other provisions.  It is subject to regular discussion and consultation with schools, district/borough councils, KCC Elected Members, the diocesan authorities, and relevant others.  The content of this Plan reflects those discussions and consultations.

Options

The KCP sets out the principles by which we determine proposals, and it forecasts the need for future provision. It also sets out in more detail plans to meet the commissioning needs which arise in each district and borough in Kent during the next five years.

The KCP provides an overarching framework for determining when and where education may be needed in the future.  It sets out the forecast number of children and young people in Kent and breaks this down to smaller geographical areas (districts and planning groups) to show where there may be a need for more or fewer places.  It sets out the principles which will be used to consider and evaluate individual proposals which might come forward (be commissioned) to address any identified shortage or surplus of places in a locality. 

Each individual scheme that is brought forward will have a rigorous feasibility stage that is completed prior to the scheme formally being commissioned, through the appropriate democratic pathway.  An integral part of this process is to identify the most suitable option to provide the additional places.  Consideration is given to:

• where the additional places would be best located from an education point of view
• the physical capacity of the existing school sites and the practically of delivery (including geographical and Highways constraints).
• providing the best value for money for the proposed scheme. 

The options considered will then be detailed in the Options section of the individual committee papers associated with each decision.

Local authorities in England are not legally required to publish a strategic school place planning document as a standalone statutory obligation. However, they do have a statutory duty under Section 14 of the Education Act 1996 to ensure that there are sufficient school places available for children of compulsory school age in their area.

While publication is not mandated by law, the Department for Education (DfE) strongly encourages local authorities to produce and share strategic school place planning documents. These are expected to include medium-term forecasts, rationale for expansions or contractions, and underpinning data. This is part of a broader framework for collaborative and transparent planning with academy trusts, dioceses, and the DfE’s Regions Group; the Kent Commissioning Plan achieves these aims and the option of not producing a strategic plan would not, it has therefore been rejected.

How the proposed decision supports the Council’s strategic statement

The KCP supports improved efficiency and timeliness in SEND services with plans to expand Specialist Resource Provisions (SRPs) and increase mainstream inclusion capacity.

Section 7 of the KCP: Commissioning Statutory School Provision by Districts, details district-level responses to housing growth and demographic pressures, seeking to ensure housing growth is sustainable.

The KCP supports value for money through Section 5: Capital Funding, which outlines the use of developer contributions, Basic Need funding, and cautious capital investment strategies. The plan also promotes in-house provision where financially viable and reducing reliance on independent placements.

Financial Implications

The LA as Strategic Commissioner of Education Provision has a key role in securing funding to provide sufficient education provision in the County, particularly in schools, in order to meet its statutory responsibilities.  The cost of delivering school places is currently met from Basic Need grant from the Government, prudential borrowing by the County Council, Section 106 property developer contributions and the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL).  Government funding for ‘Basic Need’ is allocated on a formula based upon information provided by local authorities concerning forecast numbers of pupils and school capacity. The latest 2026-27 Basic Need Budget is £127 million. This includes confirmed grant funding from Government up to 2027-28 only. Future year Government grants are yet to be agreed.

The funding of Special Education Needs projects are fully met from the High Needs Capital grant, provided by Government and confirmed on an annual basis. The 2026-27 High Needs Programme Budget, is approximately £92.5m (including grant funding confirmed up to 2026-27). 

For both Basic Need and Special Education Needs programmes, individual projects are still subject to separate agreement via the appropriate governance process (including key decisions where applicable). The sufficiency plan sets out the anticipated school requirements to support future decision-making by the Council in meeting its duty to secure sufficient school places. The Education capital programme is continuously being reviewed, with projects entering and leaving the programme regularly in response to demand and project completions, therefore final decisions on individual projects will be subject to the financial position at the time, including future Government grant allocations and confirmed costings.

Legal Implications

Each project identified in the KCP will be subject to a separate consultation and decision-making process.  The legal implications of each proposal will be identified at that time. The general and relevant legal obligations includes ensuring there are “sufficient” school places (Education Act 1996), as far as possible, complying with the preferences expressed by parents (School Standards and Framework Act 1998), increasing opportunities for parental choice (Education and Inspections Act 2006, provide fair access to educational opportunity) (Education and Inspections Act 2006, keep its SEND provision under review and consider if it is sufficient to meet the needs of children and young people in its area (Children and Families Act 2014).

Pursuant to the Equality Act 2010, the Council must, in the exercise of its functions have due regard to the need to: ‘eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation and other conduct prohibited by the Act; advance equality of opportunity between people who share a protected characteristic and those who do not; foster good relations between people who share a protected characteristic and those who do not”.