SEN High Needs Funding in Schools Proposed Approach to Funding and Implementation
SEN High Needs Funding in Schools – Proposed Approach to funding and Implementation
1. Background
In April 2013 the government made changes to the way that funding is provided to schools. The funding changes do not change the legal responsibilities of schools and local authorities for children with special educational needs (SEN). The government is also making changes to the SEN system. The changes currently set out in the Children and Families Act (2014) will not start to happen until September 2014. Until then, the current SEN framework, the law and the SEN Code of Practice, all stay in place.
The new funding system determines that funding is agreed locally and is given to schools under three main headings:
Element 1: an amount of money for each pupil in the school
This is the core budget for each school and it is used to make general provision for all pupils in the school including pupils with SEN.
Element 2: the school’s notional SEN budget
Every school receives an additional amount of money to help make special educational provision to meet children’s SEN ( ‘notional SEN budget’) The formula used should provide a guide regarding how many children with SEN a school is likely to have. A small number of schools may find they have many more children with SEN than expected. This might happen where, for example, a school has a good reputation for teaching children with SEN. Where this does happen, the school can ask the local authority for additional funding. The government has recommended that schools should use this notional SEN budget to pay for up to £6,000 worth of special educational provision to meet a child’s SEN. Most children with SEN need special educational provision that comes to less than £6,000.
Special educational provision is anything that is ‘additional to or different from’ the provision that is made for all children. Provision which is for all children is funded from the core budget. Element 2 is called the notional SEN budget because schools will determine exactly how they should spend their money. When funding is delegated to schools, they can spend it in the way they think is best. However, schools have a duty to identify, assess and make special educational provision for all children with SEN; and the local authority has a duty to set out what schools are expected to provide from their delegated budget. This information is published by the local authority and individual schools (Local Offer).
Element 3: top-up funding
If the school can show that a pupil with SEN needs more than £6,000 worth of special educational provision, it can ask the local authority to provide top-up funding to meet the cost of that provision. Where the local authority agrees, the cost is provided from funding held by the local authority in their high needs block. Element 3 is provided by the local authority for an individual pupil who has a high level of needs and schools are expected to use this funding to make provision for that individual pupil.
Academies are funded through the Education Funding Agency (EFA), not through the local authority. Academies get the same level of funding for each pupil as local authority schools in the same area; their notional SEN budget is worked out in the same way and they can apply for (and subsequently receive) top-up funding from the local authority in the same way. Academies do get extra funding, but this is not related to SEN: it is for services that Academies have to buy for themselves, services that are provided by the local authority for local authority schools.
2. Banding
In order to support the implementation of the funding changes and prepare for the implementation of the Children and Families Bill a working group was established to review current SEND funding criteria. The draft document produced fulfils the DfE requirement that each Local Authority explains the special educational needs provision that it expects to be made from within mainstream schools or early year’s budget share. The legislative framework for this document is underpinned by the principles set out in Clause 19 of the Children and Families Act (2014).
The proposed new Banding approach will enable schools to provide clear descriptors of the types of special educational provision that they normally provide in their local offer. Mainstream schools are expected to provide additional support which costs up to £10,000 (£6,000 notional SEN budget plus base funding). However, where the cost of special educational needs provision required to meet the needs of an individual child or young person exceeds this level, the Local Authority will consider an application for “top up” funding. Whilst it is envisaged that the majority of High Needs pupils will be in receipt of a Statement of Special Educational Needs or an Education, Health and Care Plan this is not required to apply for top up funding.
The legislation also enables parents to request a personal budget which could include elements of education, health and social care support. The top up could form part of this personal budget, in some circumstances the school may choose to offer some funding towards a personal budget this will always be the decision of the Headteacher.
The High Needs Banding document outlines the proposed bands with the detailed criteria attached to each to be adopted in Liverpool’s high needs banding approach. In order to implement this number of steps are required.
a. Allocation of pupils to bands
In the longer term the assessment of which band an individual pupil sits in will be undertaken either as part an application for top up funding or as part of the process of drafting an individual pupils Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP).
However, there are currently pupils in both special and mainstream provision who are receiving additional support under the current approach. This support needs to be assessed under the new banding approach. There are over 1,000 such pupils and it is not practical to assess every pupil. Therefore the following approach is to be adopted:
Pupils in Special and Resourced provision – a random sample of 15% of the pupil population in each school/provision will be selected for assessment against the new bands. The pupils selected will be assessed against the band criteria by a number of panels consisting of an Educational Psychologist, SEN statementing officer and a school SENCO. Schools are being asked to release SENCOs to participate in this task. A small amount of funding has been identified to fund the release time of SENCOs to participate in the process. It is estimated that this will require some 5 SENCOs for a maximum of 10 days. These panels will be scheduled either side of the summer break with the aim of having this exercise finished by the end of September 2014. The results of these panels will used to make an initial assessment of the banding need within each school so the overall pupil population can be allocated to bands and cost implications made known to schools.
For example School X has 100 High Needs pupils, 15 are selected to be reviewed. The panels will assess these pupils and allocate them to the most appropriate band. This will then be applied to the whole school population as shown in the hypothetical example below:
Band / Sample Assessment / School AssessmentB / 4 / 27
C / 6 / 40
D / 5 / 33
Total / 15 / 100
Pupils in Mainstream – at present there are 2 groups of HN pupils in mainstream, firstly pupils who are eligible for a centrally funded ESA; these are mainly pupils with significant medical needs. A sample approach is less useful for these pupils as most schools only have one or two such pupils and their needs can vary significantly. Schools will need to complete the application for top up form contained within the banding document detailing the needs and support required by the pupil.
There are also another group of pupils who currently receive no direct additional support from the local authority but who do have complex needs. The new banding system will give schools the opportunity to apply for additional top up funding if they are able to evidence a spend of more than £6,000 of additional support and believe the individual pupil meets the banding criteria. Any such that are assessed as meeting the criteria for a band will be funded from 1st September 2014.
Applications can be made from the now until the 24th October. Application for top up will be assessed by a panel who will determine (a) whether the pupil meets the criteria and (b) which band is most accurately reflects the pupil’s needs. Schools will be informed as soon as possible after this date of the banding allocated to the individual pupil. The application process and a proforma for submitting applications is including in the detailed banding criteria document. It is proposed that there will be an opportunity for schools to apply for top up for individual pupils on a termly basis after this initial exercise.
It is appreciated that maintaining an individual pupil in mainstream is more costly than in a specialist provision which benefits from economies of scale, therefore the local authority intends to have a single pupil adjustment to the bands in order to allow for when a pupil is maintained in a non-resourced mainstream setting. It is envisaged this will be an additional £1,500 per pupil.
b. Banding rates
Based on the banding criteria proposed a relative weighting for each band has been calculated. This is detailed in the table below. At present this is not expressed in terms of a monetary top up amount. Until the exercise to allocate current pupils to the new bands has been undertaken a monetary amount cannot be allocated to the bands. The overall funding amount is fixed for the existing pupil population. Clearly if the review results in a significant number of pupils being allocated to higher bands then the overall value per band will fall.
Band A / Band B / Band C / Band D / Band ERelative Weightings / 8.3% / 28.6% / 48.2% / 121.3% / 172.1%
As highlighted above it is proposed that individual pupils in mainstream schools receive a single pupil additional top up of £1,500. In addition to this flexibility there will be as at present adjustments to individual special special school top ups. This approach will take account of school specific issues such as size of schools and schools specific on-going costs such as BSF.
c. Transitional arrangements
Whilst the new banding approach will be applicable from 1st September to support the implementation of the Children and Families Act it is appreciated that the funding implications of this will impact on schools significantly and the following transitional measures are proposed.
For Special Schools and resourced provision in mainstream
It is appreciated that for Special Schools and schools with resourced provision budgets have already been set on the basis of current funding allocations. Schools over the past year have already become used to the adjustment of top up funding in line with actual numbers. Once the sample moderations have been undertaken schools will be given details of the potential implications of this on their budgets. It is intended for the remainder of the current financial year to use the new banding allocations as a shadow budget allocation so schools can see the impact of the changes on their individual school and make plans to adjust their cost structure if necessary. From April 2015 the new bandings would be used to budget set. However in the first year to support smooth transition school budgets would be protected to ensure that individual schools don’t lose more than 1.5% per pupil in terms of the average per pupil top up within the school/unit.
Mainstream schools
In general the impact of these funding reforms on mainstream schools will be limited and many schools will now have the opportunity to apply for funding for pupils they believe have complex high needs. However in a small number of cases some schools currently have 2 or 3 centrally funded ESAs and will be required to contribute towards the first £6,000 cost of support for these pupils. Therefore where a school has a centrally funded ESA the authority will continue to fund the initial £6,000 support plus top up in respect of the ESA for the remainder of the financial year whatever the outcome of the moderation exercise to ensure stability for the schools affected.
In the case of new applications the moderation process and agreement of band values is unlikely to be available until the second half of the autumn term so for any pupils that are allocated to a band the top up funding will be backdated to September 2014.
3. Element 2 Support - mainstream
It is appreciated that the changes proposed will impact on mainstream schools with significant numbers of SEN pupils whom they are expected to fund from their school budget. Schools are expected to fund up to £6,000 additional SEN support for pupils prior to applying for top up. It is appreciated that some schools can have a higher proportion of such pupils which will not be related to the level of notional SEN funding allocated within the school budget, which is largely distributed on the basis of prior attainment.
It is therefore proposed that the local authority have an element 2 fund. This would apply either where a school has a significant number of pupils recorded as requiring additional support or alternatively where few pupils whose needs are at the higher end of the schools continuum require £6,000 of additional support. In this scenario schools would need to put forward a business case highlighting the key issues and resulting financial impact affecting the school. As highlighted above for schools with current centrally funded ESAs this fund will be used to support schools until 31st March 2015 Schools will not need to apply for this element of the fund.