Purpose

Proposed
decision – The Cabinet Member for
Education and Skills is asked to:
 
a)      APPROVE the allocation of
£7,173,774 in funding from the Children Young People and
Education Services High Need Capital Budget to fund the second
phase of works to permanently expand Nexus Foundation Special
School.
 
b)      DELEGATE authority to the
Director of Infrastructure in consultation with the General Counsel
and Director of Education to enter into any necessary contracts or
other legal agreements as required to implement this
decision. 
 
c)      AGREE that the Director of
Infrastructure be the nominated Authority Representative within the
relevant agreements, with authority to enter variations as
envisaged under the contracts. 
Variations to contract value to be no more than 10% above the
capital funding agreed by the Cabinet Member without requiring a
new Record of Decision.
 
Reason for Decision
In July 2024, the
Cabinet Member for Education and Skills approved (via key decision

24/00060) to permanently increase the Designated Number of
places at Nexus Foundation Special School from 228 to 330 from
September 2024 and to release capital to fund the first phase of
works to permanently expand the school 
 
A further key decision
is now required to approve the second phase of capital works. This
phase will provide the necessary physical capacity and facilities
to support the increased pupil numbers on a permanent basis and
ensure appropriate accommodation for children with profound, severe
and complex needs.
 
Background
Kent County Council
(KCC), as the Local Authority (LA), has a statutory duty to ensure
sufficient school places are available. The County Council’s
Commissioning Plan for Education Provision in Kent (KCP) is a
five-year rolling plan which is updated annually. It sets out our
future plans as Strategic Commissioner of Education Provision
across all types and phases of education in Kent. A copy of the
plan can be viewed from this link:

Commissioning Plan for Education Provision - Kent County
Council
 
The 2024-28 iteration of the KCP
highlighted the Special Educational Needs (SEN) pupils need for
school places led to the pressure that Kent has experienced, with
the number of Education Health and Care Plans (EHCPs) increasing
significantly. The demand for special school provision within
Tonbridge and the wider West Kent area has increased
commensurately, and in recent years KCC has commissioned additional
places at Nexus without providing additional
accommodation. 
 
Since
the academic year 2021/22 Nexus has temporarily increased its
intake to an average of 16 on its main campus and to 6 for the
Wouldham satellite to meet the commissioned demand.  The demand for places at Nexus is set to remain
for the foreseeable future and therefore the proposed scheme
provides the physical capacity to continue to admit the increased
intakes on a permanent basis and ensure the school has the
appropriate facilities and accommodation support provision for
children with profound, severe and complex needs.
 
Options
Do
nothing - Nexus is the only special
school for children with profound, severe and complex needs in
Tonbridge and Malling and without the delivery of the phase 2
accommodation, the school would not be able to permanently continue
to admit as many pupils as it has done on a temporary basis and the
number of places available each year would decrease.
 
Currently, the school
has 294 pupils on roll (as at June 2025) and have been commissioned
to support 330 from September 2025. The school is utilising
non-teaching and shared/communal spaces and facilities on a
temporary basis to support the children but this approach is
restricting how and where staff can undertake planning and
preparation and also non-teaching activities, which cannot be
sustained in the longer term.
 
If phase 2 was not
progressed the school’s designated number would have to
reduce from 330. This would also involve the initiation of a
statutory process, including public consultation and require KCC to
pay for independent places when otherwise it would not need
to.
 
The number of places
the school could accommodate on a permanent basis without further
accommodation would be greater than 228, detailed work would need
to be carried out to determine the final figure, it is however
estimated at approximately 260.
 
This would mean 70
fewer permanent places would be available within the
state-maintained sector and KCC may then be required to place those
children within the independent sector, with places likely to be
further away from children’s homes and at a significant cost
to KCC, including placement and transport costs. 
 
The annual cost of a
state-funded special school place is approximately half the cost of
an independent school place.  The
resulting impact of not providing the permanent additional places
would be an increase to the on-going financial revenue pressure on
the High Needs Block, of up to £1.75m per year. Along this
cost there would be additional transport costs which would be
dependent on where children are placed.
 
Proposed
Decision: Progress
with phase 2 - this is the recommended proposal as it
will permanently increase capacity at
the school and avoid further pressure of placements in the
independent and non-maintained sector, and a potential revenue cost
avoidance of up to £1.75m per year. Whilst the capital cost
of delivering phase 2 of the construction is significantly greater
than previously estimated, it is in line with market prices, within
the budget available and will provide value for money to KCC whilst
improving the provision for children with some of the most complex
needs in the local community.
 
How the proposed decision
supports the Framing Kent's Future - Our Council Strategy
2022-2026
This
proposal will help to support Framing Kent’s Future –
Our Council Strategy (2022-2026) Priority 1 - Levelling up.
‘To maintain KCC’s strategic role in supporting schools
in Kent to deliver accessible, high quality education provision for
all families.’
 
How
the proposed decision supports Securing Kent’s Future 2022
-2026
The
'Securing Kent's Future' strategy outlines the measures that KCC
intend to take to ensure that Kent remains financially stable, now
and into the future.  It describes the
statutory priorities, one of which being the statutory duty to
ensure sufficient school places are available to any child or young
person who requires one. This duty applies to SEN provision, as
well as mainstream settings.
 
This
proposal is necessary for KCC to continue to deliver the statutory
duty, in a cost-effective way, in line with the guidelines
described in the Securing Kent's Future strategy. It will help to
maintain KCC’s strategic role in supporting schools in Kent
to deliver accessible, high quality education provision for all
families.
 
Financial Implications
Comprehensive
feasibility and design work has been completed in preparation for
progression through the planning process for phase 2.  This phase will provide the school with the main
additional accommodation required to accommodate a total roll of
330 pupils on a permanent basis. It entails a single storey
standalone traditional construction build, consisting of 4 general
classrooms and a specialist science room.  It also includes a calm space/room, 2 small group
rooms paired with the classrooms, accessible toilets via a
cloakroom between classrooms, a hygiene suite and suitable
circulation space along with other ancillary accommodation to meet
the needs of the pupils using the accommodation. Along with
accommodation delivered in Phase 1, this will add teaching space to
the school and enable the school to stop using space it has
temporarily converted to teaching space.
 
The type and amount of
accommodation proposed is based on the findings of a space needs
assessment against BB104, which is Department for Education (DfE)
guidance for space standards in special schools.
 
A detailed cost plan
has been produced estimating that £7,173,774 of High Need
Capital Budget funding is required to complete phase 2 of the
project.  The previous initial
high-level feasibility, completed prior to phase 1, estimated that
£2.88m would be required for Phase 2.  However, this proved to be an underestimation when
the more detailed feasibility work was completed taking into
consideration specific site and operational constraints.
 
The revised cost
estimate represents a significant increase from the original
projection. To ensure accuracy, the County Council commissioned
independent verification from chartered quantity surveyors, who
confirmed that the figure of £7,173,774 aligns with current
market expectations.
 
The cost increase can
be attributed to three principal factors:
 
· 
Macroeconomic Conditions: Rising labour and material
costs, coupled with global economic uncertainty, have contributed
to higher inflationary pressures, which are now being reflected in
contractor pricing.
· 
Project-Specific Developments: Detailed design and
site investigations have progressed since the initial estimate,
including assessments of building placement, ground conditions,
site logistics and planning and environmental requirements. This
has revealed additional cost elements that were not considered in
the initial estimate.
· 
Initial Estimation Optimism: The original cost
estimate was subject to a greater degree of optimism bias than was
appropriate by the contractor that produced it.
The original estimate
was independently prepared by contractors who were requested to
produce realistic project estimates, albeit at an early stage of
the project’s development. This was informed by market rates
and information available at the time (4Q 2023). Officers within
the Infrastructure Division have since introduced improved
processes to reduce the likelihood of similar issues arising in
future projects.
 
The combined cost of
Phase 1 and 2 construction works would be £8,433,774; which
is £82,684.06 per place across the 102 additional places.
This is slightly below the average of £85,738 per place based
on 74 schemes completed nationally and included within the June
2025 National School Delivery Cost Benchmarking Report, which was
compiled by Local Authorities and the DfE.
 
The proposed
expenditure enables delivery of the Council’s statutory
services and requirements at a minimum possible level as set out in
KCC’s Spending Control Guidance and avoiding the need for
Independent Placements will support the County Council to prevent
the current situation from getting worse.
 
Revenue
Funding:  Should the scheme progress,
£6,000 per new learning space would be provided towards the
cost of furniture and equipment. This would be provided to the
school to purchase required equipment. In addition, an allowance of
up to £2,500 may be payable to outfit each new teaching room
with appropriate ICT equipment, such as touch screens or projection
equipment.  The school would receive
funding for the additional pupils that it admits in line with the
funding allocated to special schools through KCC’s funding
formula. This is a total of £42,500 one-off revenue costs.
All school related revenue costs highlighted will be met from the
Dedicated Schools Grant, a ring-fenced grant from the Department of
Education.  
 
Both the Capital and
Revenue funding requirement are expected to be met in full from DfE
specific grants. The Capital funding will come from the High Needs
Capital Grant with a combined allocations totalling over £70m
(between 2023-26). The cost avoidance outlined in above also
impacts expenditure funded from the high needs block, a specific
grant from the DfE which the Council is currently overspending and
is aiming to recover through the implementation of the Safety Valve
Agreement, of which this proposal will support this
plan.
 
There is no direct
General Fund costs or savings associated with this
proposal.  However, if this was not to
proceed, any feasibility costs to date would be classed as
“abortive” and could no longer be classed as capital
expenditure, therefore these costs would become a one-off revenue
costs on the General Fund. The estimated costs to date with phase 2
are £0.4m.
 
 
 

Decision

As Cabinet Member for Education and Skills, I
agree to:
 
a)         APPROVE
the allocation of £7,173,774 in funding from the Children
Young People and Education Services High Need Capital Budget to
fund the second phase of works to permanently expand Nexus
Foundation Special School.
 
b)         DELEGATE
authority to the Director of Infrastructure in consultation with
the General Counsel and Director of Education to enter into any
necessary contracts or other legal agreements as required to
implement this decision. 
 
c)         AGREE
that the Director of Infrastructure be the nominated Authority
Representative within the relevant agreements, with authority to
enter variations as envisaged under the contracts.  Variations to contract value to be no more than
10% above the capital funding agreed by the Cabinet Member without
requiring a new Record of Decision.