THE Vale council is planning on making cuts to funding for children who require additional needs with their education.

As part of plans to save an estimated £25 million over the next three years, the Vale of Glamorgan Council plans to slash some budgets significantly in a bid to balance the books.

According to a council document - A Strategic Plan for Reshaping Special Educational Needs Services in the Vale of Glamorgan - the ALN (additional learning needs) budget will be slashed by £623,000 over the next two financial years, if proposals are approved.

Additional learning needs refers to learners who require additional support during studies.

Dinas Powys councillor Chris Franks has criticised the plans, fearing the consequences they could cause.

He said: "There are serious concerns that the changes are not in the best interests of pupils in special education or mainstream schools.

"Plaid has previously warned that the Vale is underfunding education and need to allocate more resources.

"There can only be losers in this - children who need the extra support to succeed and schools as a whole.

"Our examination results are improving but slashing the budgets like this will hinder further progress."

Cllr Lis Burnett, the cabinet member for regeneration and education, said the council has made savings of over £35m since 2010, but said more were needed.

"With such a huge financial challenge ahead of us business as usual is quite simply not an option and so in 2014 the council began a wide ranging review of all areas of its work," she said. "This is the reshaping services programme.

"Under this programme all areas of our work are under review and potential savings of £623K have been identified within the additional learning needs (ALN) service. These proposals are being developed in partnership with headteachers and will be delivered across three years.

"The savings will be made largely by shifting our focus to early intervention and maximising the use of mainstream schools wherever possible. This will enable more children and young people to stay in mainstream education close to their homes and with their peers.

"At the same time, the council is receiving less income than expected from other local authorities sending pupils to the high quality facilities that we have in the Vale and a separate piece of work is being undertaken to identify options for changing how some of our facilities are managed to address this.

"Our ultimate goal is to provide a high quality and cost effective service that meets the needs of pupils and which supports them, their parents, and schools to achieve the best outcomes possible. In light of our excellent track record of delivering high quality services we are very confident of achieving this."

The proposals will be discussed at a council committee meeting at a date yet to be arranged.