SEN Funding Brian Gale Director of Policy and Campaigns National Deaf Children’s Society

Outline How LAs are funded How sensory support services are funded How education are providers funded

Local Authority Funding

Dedicated Schools Grant (ring fenced): Early Years Block Schools Block High Needs Block (SEN 0-25 years) (Each block not ring fenced)

HNB pays for: Specialist SEN support services Additional support in mainstream EY settings, schools, FE (but schools and FE pay first £6,000) Commissioning of specialist provision Personal education budgets

Some issues: Demographic pressures on the High Needs Block Ability to use the schools block to offset pressures in post 16 high needs HNB allocation to LAs is historic and not based on analysis of relative need

Funding for Specialist SI Support Services

All of the current funding for support services can be retained centrally in the HNB irrespective of whether pupils have statement or not and irrespective of whether they are high needs or not and irrespective of the type of school . This:.....

Enables LAs to work preventatively Reduces perverse incentive to go for statutory assessment Recognises that for low incidence needs that delegation using a funding formula cannot reflect the true distribution of need between schools

Issues LAs are still able to delegate Security of funding Post 16 traditionally funded by FE provides not LAs

Specialist support in FE – NatSIP survey 2013

Early Years Funding

EY Requirements Statutory guidance to LAs on the sufficiency of early education and childcare provision underlines their duties to promote equality for disabled children.

SEN CofP (April 2014) LAs must ensure all EY providers meet the needs of children with SEN. To do this they should make sure funding arrangements for early education reflect the need to provide suitable support for them

Funding arrangements EY single funding formula: a base rate per hour plus any additions e.g.. flexibility (opening times), quality (qualifications of staff) and deprivation (but no low level SEN factor) Top up from LA for provision costing more than is normally available

Example given by DfE: 4 year old child has additional needs costing £5,000 more than what is normally available in a nursery The nursery receives funding for 15 hours of education. Calculated by the EY Single Funding Formula. Funding from the LA’s Early Years Block.

LA pays a top-up of £5,000 from its HNB EY don’t get a notional SEN budget “LAs will need to ensure that there is clarity, through their local offer, about what mainstream early years settings will provide for high needs pupils using funding for the 15 hours of early education” DfE

2 year olds From Sept 2014 15 hours of free EY education will be extended to more two-year-olds who have a statement of SEN or attract the Disability Living Allowance

DfE says: “As well as the revenue funding for early years, and for 2 year olds specifically, which should be more than sufficient, capital funding is available to LAs to help with the expansion of provision. These funding streams can be used to make sure that there are sufficient places for young children with SEN and disabilities”

Ways of support in EY (NatSIP Survey 2013)

Source of funding EY (NatSIP Survey 2013)

Expectations on EY providers

Mainstream Schools – Funding for Pupils Not In Specialised Resourced Provision

Mainstream Schools New Code of Practice says: All schools provided with resources to support pupils with SEN Determined by a local funding formula Within the budget there is a notional SEN budget

Code of Practice It is not ring fenced and “it is for the school to provide high quality appropriate support from the whole of its budget” Schools should “consider their strategic approach to SEN in the context of the total resources available. This will enable schools to give a clear description of the SEN they normally provide”

Code of Practice Not expected to meet full cost of high needs students from core funding. Expected to provide additional support up to a nationally prescribed threshold (currently £6,000) The responsible authority provides top up

Variation in level of SEN notional budget 2013/14

Variations 2013/14 Primary Characteristics Funding per pupil School A 22% on FSM 28% with LPA £385 School B 27% with LPA £1,115

Does formula allocation need adjusting to reflect actual distribution of pupils with SI

Have adjustments been made?

Funding of Specialist Pre 16 Provision – Special schools and resourced provision in mainstream schools

Special Schools and Resourced Provision in Mainstream LA commissions places. Place plus approach to funding. £10,000 per place and top up (schools with resource provision don’t get awpu) Top up based on individual needs but LAs can use resource bands

Specialist provision (continued) LA pays the place funding to maintained providers. EFA to others (e.g. academies, NMSS) Outreach funded separately. Place numbers based on previous year (not resourced provision)

Resource provision in mainstream Variety of models in operation: Still a high proportion centrally funded Delegation Hybrid

Implications- Feedback from NatSIP survey 2013 Greater focus on the specification, cost and planning Model does not work well when you have small and fluctuating numbers (some think it is threatening viability) No inter authority recoupment

Implications Possible to provide financial stability through variation of the top up. If place funding goes down – top up goes up. If place go up – top goes down.

Resource banding About 20 -25% of respondents said they were using resource bands for SI. The number of bands used ranged between 3 and 7 (4-5 bands most commonly used)

Post 16 Funding Arrangements

Post 16 : Low level needs 16-18 yrs For all students whose additional support needs cost less than £6,000 will have Additional Learning Support funding for: ‘disadvantage’ and; ‘low level learning difficulties and disabilities

This will be calculated and allocated according to: A deprivation based measure The numbers of students without C grades in English and/or Maths (£480 for one - £960 per student for two)

Low level needs 19 years and over Providers funded by the Skills Funding Agency for students without a EHC Plan Colleges can charge fees

Post 16: High Needs Element 1: Core funding (incl. disadvantage) Element 2: £6,000 for every high needs pupil placed in the institution (Elements 1 and 2 are paid directly to providers by the EFA not maintained schools) Element 3: Top up funding provided by the local authority

Post 16: Issues Complexity and uncertainty. Providers now dealing with many funders (LAs) rather than the YPLA. LAs encouraged to commission collaboratively but little evidence of this. Bigger incentive for mainstream post 16 providers to identify high needs students than schools

Post 16 issues Funding demography Pressure on support services (extended age range) Monitoring progress and outcomes Shift in responsibility from the YPLA to LAs resulting in more emphasis on developing local provision (NatSIP survey)

Higher Education – Changes to DSA Restrictions on ICT paid for Inflexibilities on use of non medical helpers Questions over the responsibilities of HE institutions to make provision No equality impact statement NDCS expressed concerns and asked for a meeting with the minister