This is the amount a council spent on places for children with special educational needs at private and independent specialist schools. It matters because these are typically the most expensive placements available, and this is the fastest-growing cost in the system nationally. A high number means the council is buying a lot of costly private provision, often because it lacks enough state-sector places of its own; a low number means it relies on them less.
| Council | Class | Value | In its class |
|---|---|---|---|
| Surrey | county | 115,755,174 | 1st worst of 23 |
| Hampshire | county | 100,611,483 | 2nd worst of 23 |
| Kent | county | 100,036,842 | 3rd worst of 23 |
| West Sussex | county | 66,701,487 | 4th worst of 23 |
| Norfolk | county | 61,262,552 | 5th worst of 23 |
| Devon | county | 59,092,856 | 6th worst of 23 |
| Lancashire | county | 56,654,087 | 7th worst of 23 |
| Oxfordshire | county | 53,433,761 | 8th worst of 23 |
| Staffordshire | county | 52,117,407 | 9th worst of 23 |
| Manchester | metropolitan | 47,765,971 | 1st worst of 36 |
| Council | Class | Value | In its class |
|---|---|---|---|
| Isles of Scilly | unitary | 542,322 | 1st best of 61 |
| City of London | london | 635,686 | 1st best of 33 |
| Rutland | unitary | 2,676,212 | 2nd best of 61 |
| Southend-on-Sea | unitary | 2,865,690 | 3rd best of 61 |
| Torbay | unitary | 2,965,815 | 4th best of 61 |
| Darlington | unitary | 3,272,927 | 5th best of 61 |
| Nottingham | unitary | 3,655,527 | 6th best of 61 |
| Gateshead | metropolitan | 4,103,247 | 1st best of 36 |
| Kingston upon Hull, City of | unitary | 4,246,502 | 7th best of 61 |
| York | unitary | 4,768,761 | 8th best of 61 |
| name | hn_independent |
|---|---|
| dataset | 05-dsg-send-deficits |
| kind | extracted |
| type | numeric |
| unit | GBP |
| grain | local authority x financial year |
| role | feature |
| source | data/data/s251_alleducation_la_regional_national.csv (cp1252); geographic_level == 'Local authority'; category_of_expenditure == '1.2.3 Top-up and other funding – non-maintained and independent providers'; column net_expenditure |
| period | 2015-16 to 2024-25 |
| missingness | 'x' = not applicable, 'z' = suppressed — never treat as zero |
| score_note | Key cost driver, but the ratio version (hn_independent_share) carries most of its signal. |
| calculated | ../calculated/hn-independent.csv |
| calculated_rows | 1518 |
| calculated_periods | 2015-16 to 2024-25 |
| calculated_date | 2026-08-13 |
| peer_group | unitaries (n=63), metropolitan boroughs (n=36), London boroughs (n=33), counties (n=26) — scored within each class against its median/IQR |
Spend on independent and non-maintained special provision — the fastest-growing SEND cost line nationally and a key driver of DSG deficits. High values indicate reliance on expensive out-of-sector placements (see hn_independent_share).