Extra £3 million to help combat Devon’s winter road damage

The money will be diverted away from a SEND deficit

Devon’s roads are set to get a £3 million boost in a bid to help repair the significant damage waged upon them by the torrid weather over winter.

The unexpected cash will be diverted to the county’s highways instead of its initial purpose of paying down a deficit linked to special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).

Devon County Council had struck an agreement with the government, known as Safety Valve, aimed at helping reduce the overspend in the SEND service.

That scheme involved the council getting a £95 million grant from the government over eight years, and the council was required to contribute to reducing the deficit too.

But an overhaul in SEND funding nationally, which will see the government pay off 90 per cent of all councils’ overspends, means that the council’s contribution is not currently needed.

A report prepared for the council’s cabinet stated the council had secured an agreement that it did not need to contribute to the SEND deficit as part of the Safety Valve agreement.

“The planned £7.4 million contribution to the SEND deficit in 2025/26 is therefore no longer required and can instead be released to support the authority’s overall financial position,” it said.

“This release of funding has been reflected in the Month 10 financial position and is the main driver for the overall improved financial forecast

“ As stated, it is proposed that £3 million of this is transferred to highways to enable increased spending on reactive maintenance due to the severe weather being experienced”.

The extra cash comes just after the council had agreed an extra £6 million on highways spending next financial year – above the £30 million that is being spent in this financial year.

And it will be needed given the huge spike in potholes, given the number of reports of them in February were 9,700 – 90 per cent higher than the same period last year.

The change positively impacts the council’s overall finances for the 2025/26 financial year, which ends at the start of April.

It is now estimating a more than £4 million underspend compared to a roughly £5 million overspend it thought it would suffer when it was making predictions just two months prior.

However, the council’s SEND deficit is still rising, and the council expects it to surpass £61 million just for this financial year.

That takes the cumulative deficit to an expected £180 million – nearly £72 million more than it was projected to be at this point when the council and the government entered the Safety Valve agreement in March 2024

As part of the new approach to SEND funding, councils are likely to have to fund the remaining 10 per cent of their SEND-related deficits, but it isn’t yet clear how this will have to be done.

Councils may be required to budget annual payments, or they may be allowed to borrow money to cover it, but no firm guidance has emerged yet from Westminster.

After the 2027/28 financial year, central government is expected to manage the schools budget, of which SEND is a part.