Purpose

Proposed decision – The
Cabinet Member for Education and Skills is asked to agree
to:
 
a)         approve  the allocation of £2,010,300 from the
Children Young People and Education Services High Needs Capital
Budget to fund the permanent expansion of The Oaks Specialist
College by 10 places from September 2025.
 
b)         Delegate
authority to the Director of Infrastructure, Strategic and
Corporate Services in consultation with the General Counsel and
Director of Education enter into any necessary contracts or other
legal as required to implement this decision. 
 
c)        
authorise the Director of Infrastructure, Strategic and Corporate
Services to be the nominated Authority Representative within the
relevant agreements and to enter into variations as envisaged under
the contracts.
 
Reason for
Decision
Result in savings or
expenditure which is significant having regard to the budget for
the service or function (currently defined by the Council as in
excess of £1,000,000)
 
Background
Within the North West Kent area
the adopted pathway for young people aged 19 with complex medical
or Physical Disabilities leaving a state maintained special school
such as Valence, Milestone and Nexus is often to college provision
outside of the county as there is not post 19 provision within Kent
that can meet the physical needs of this cohort.
 
The out of county settings are
a significant distance from home, including in Hampshire and
Surrey, with the majority of places being residential, if the
setting were closer to the learners homes then residential
provision would not be required for education or social care
reasons. This not only requires young people to move home and away
from their existing support network when there is not an identified
social care need for them to be in a residential setting, but these
places also come at a significant financial cost.  The average cost per learner in 2024 to KCC for
those within this cohort was £141,750, with some in excess of
£200,000.
 
Establishing an education
pathway for these young people within the area where they live
would prevent the need for young people to move away from their
existing support networks, change their medical services and as it
would not require residential accommodation, cost significantly
less to the County Council than those placements which
do.
 
The Oaks Specialist College is
a Special Post 16 Institution (SPI) based in Tonbridge that was
established in 2018 and is a successful provision for 18 to 25 year
olds with learning difficulties. It represents an appropriate
placement for a significant number of learners, however the college
doesn’t currently have the physical ability to accommodate
learners from the local cohort that have more complex physical
disabilities; it does have a strong desire to do so.
 
The proposal is for The Oaks to
establish an additional pathway for young people with more complex
Physical Disabilities, to do so a building designed to meet the
needs of the cohort would be constructed on KCC-owned land. The
Oaks would manage the construction of the build and KCC provide a
capital grant of £2,010,300 to The Oaks, pursuant to a
legally enforceable development agreement.
 
The revenue placement cost for
a learner at The Oaks is in the region of £42,000, this
compares to the average out of county placement for this cohort of
£141,750 per learner.
 
 
Options
 
Do Nothing
The County Council currently
seeks appropriate placement of young people within this cohort as
the need arises each year, with institutions outside of Kent being
consulted at the time of placement need. This approach could
continue, it would not enable more Kent resident young people to
stay in Kent, would not secure an ongoing pathway for the young
people and would see high cost placements continue.
 
Commission Additional
Pathway
The financial benefits set out
below would be realised and fewer young people would be educated
out of county.
 
 
Securing
Kent’s Future
The 'Securing Kent's Future'
strategy outlines the measures that KCC intend to take to ensure
that Kent remains financially stable, now and in the
future.  It describes the statutory
priorities, one of which being the statutory duty, as the Strategic
Commissioner of Education Provision in Kent, to ensure sufficient
places are available to any child or young person who requires
one
 
Financial
Implications
Capital Funding:  there would be an allocation of £2,010,300
from the Children Young People and Education Services High Needs
Capital Budget.  This capital outlay
would be used to provide the Oaks with a capital grant to
accommodate a pathway for 10 additional learners that currently
will need to be placed in independent settings. 
 
The cost of placing 10 learners
in out of county provision is estimated to be circa £1.42
million per annum.  Conversely, the
comparative revenue cost of placing 10 additional learners at the
Oaks in a new pathway would be around £20,000 per
annum  This potentially presents an
expected revenue saving of circa £1m (£997k), a
reduction of 70% compared to out of county residential
places.
 
 
 
Revenue Funding:
The revenue placement cost for
a learner at The Oaks is in the region of £42,000, this
compares to the average out of county placement for this cohort of
£141,750 per learner. This potentially presents an expected
ongoing annual revenue saving of circa £1m (£997k), a
reduction of 70% compared to out of county residential places. The
saving is predominantly expected to benefit the High Needs Block of
the Dedicated Schools Grant that is currently significantly
overspent. This proposal forms part of the Council’s wider
response in delivering the safety valve arrangement by putting in
place more cost-effective education placement
solutions. 
 
 
Legal
Implications
The College would be
responsible for securing all licenses and permissions, including
planning permission. The College would also enter a contract with
KCC setting out the conditions of spend and providing KCC with
rights regarding seeking of information.
 
Equalities
implications
An Equality Impact Assessment
(EqIA) has been produced and no issues
were identified in the early stage EqIA, but the assessment will be reviewed as the
project continues.
 
Data Protection
implications
KCC and the college are the
‘controllers’ under the General Data Protection
Regulation and will ensure that any personal information is
processed fairly and lawfully within any consultation
work.
 

Decision

As Cabinet Member
for Education and Skills, I agree to:
 
(i)   
Approve the allocation of £2,010,300 from the Children Young
People and Education Services High Needs Capital Budget to fund the
permanent expansion of The Oaks Specialist College by 10 places
from September 2025.
 
(ii)  
Delegate authority to the Director of Infrastructure, Strategic and
Corporate Services in consultation with the General Counsel and
Director of Education enter into any necessary contracts or other
legal as required to implement this decision. 
 
(iii)Authorise the Director of
Infrastructure, Strategic and Corporate Services to be the
nominated Authority Representative within the relevant agreements
and to enter into variations as envisaged under the contracts.