Mohammad Yasin has welcomed a £1.5 million High Needs Stability Grant for Bedford while calling for clarity over the Government's wider SEND reforms.
The one-off grant is equivalent to 90 per cent of Bedford Borough Council's accumulated high-needs deficit up to the end of 2025-26. It follows approval of the authority's Local SEND Reform Plan.
The payment will reduce debt that the council had been financing through borrowing. It will not increase the day-to-day budget available for special educational needs and disabilities services.
Yasin said the existing system was under serious pressure and that families remained concerned about what national reforms would mean. He urged the Government to publish its response to the consultation so parents and carers could see the intended direction.
School Standards Minister Georgia Gould told the council that approval of the plan begins a new phase of work. Local performance will be monitored through quarterly data, and further action remains possible where outcomes are not met.
Future treatment of deficits arising in 2026-27 and 2027-28 will depend partly on delivery of the approved reform plan. Ministers have said support will be proportionate rather than unlimited.
The grant is therefore debt relief tied to a reform and monitoring process, not a permanent increase in Bedford's SEND settlement. Yasin said the test would be whether the changes end families' struggle to secure support.
