Closed petition: End the Safety Valve programme and provide funding to cover SEND deficits

Closed on 23 July 2025

We ask that the Safety Valve programme, which gives funding to local authorities who put plans in place to reduce school deficits, is ended. We believe it incentivises cutting support for vulnerable children, and we want funding to cover local authority deficits to be provided without condition.

We think SEND services have been chronically underfunded, and cuts to non-statutory services have created increased, avoidable need for statutory support.

Although the government has closed the scheme for new entrants, 38 agreements are still in place. We think many of them cannot meet their targets and are cutting services, for no benefit, to manage deficits that should not exist. We ask the government to cover the deficits putting councils at risk of bankruptcy, to prevent cuts that are impacting vulnerable children now.