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East Riding Councillor: Why Are Our Children Worth Less Than Everyone Else's?

Not sustainable and not fair. That's the view of one councillor on planned government cuts to special educational needs funding in the East Riding.

Denis Healy has been outspoken on plans that leave the region with less funding than most areas of the UK.

The Leader of the local Liberal Democrats group says inner city areas get a better deal than families in East Yorkshire:

 "On special educational needs, East Riding receives some of the lowest funding.

"In England, a child in Camden receives £3,997 of funding per head. The national average is £1,600, but a child in the East Riding receives just £999.

"The government's message to those families is stark. Make do. That is not sustainable and and it's not fair."

Local government finance reforms, known as fair funding, is a mechanism designed to redistribute resources based on things like population, deprivation and sparsity.

Councillor Nigel Wilkinson agrees the East Riding has been under-funded:

" The most stark example of this is the funding of our children with special educational needs and disabilities.

"We, in the East Riding, are the lowest-funded authority in the country, and the fair funding should mean we get the largest increase to help address this inequality. But no, we have been given the lowest in the country with only 2% increase way below inflation compared to an average across England of 6.2%.

"If we received the average, we would have a further £24.6 million for our children. I ask here the government, why our children in East Riding are worth less than everyone else's?"

The government says the new approach aims to create a less complex, transparent system based on needs, such as social care demand and population changes, rather than historical spending. 

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