Pupils with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) are
at risk of being turned away by mainstream schools due to a lack
of funding and rising demand, councils warn today.
In response to the Government’s consultation on the high needs
funding formula for schools the Local Government Association,
which represents over 370 local authorities, is warning that if
the Government does not adequately fund SEND, children with high
needs or disabilities could miss out on a mainstream
education.
Analysis of Department for Education (DfE) data reveals that in
the past four years there has been a substantial increase in the
number of pupils with SEND who attend a specialist school
setting, up from 5.6 per cent in 2012 to 8.5 per cent in 2016.
The proportion of pupils in independent schools has moved from
4.5 per cent to 6.3 per cent over the same period.
For several years the High Needs Dedicated Schools
Grant has been frozen, putting local budgets under
increasing pressure. Councils have had to meet the
difference by topping up high needs funding from other
budgets where necessary, however the consultation suggests that
this flexibility will no longer be available to local
authorities, making it even more difficult to provide children
with the support they need. This has been an important
mechanism for local authorities to counter the impacts of reduced
budgets.
In acknowledging rising need, the Government should provide
additional funding to meet increasing pressures. Otherwise,
councils will be put in an impossible situation where they may
not be able to fund enough places for those with the highest
needs or will be unable to ‘top up’ provisions for pupils with
high needs attending mainstream schools. Whilst the DfE has
provided some extra funding since 2015/16, it has been
allocated on the basis of the total number of children in an
area, rather than any measure of the number of children with
complex needs.
If councils do not receive sufficient funding to cover high cost
SEND, they will not have the resources to allocate extra funds to
highly inclusive schools that take higher than average numbers of
pupils with additional needs. Equally, mainstream schools may
find it difficult to accept or keep pupils with SEND because they
cannot afford to subsidise the provision from their own budgets,
as they are already under significant pressure.
Councils are calling on government to use this consultation as an
opportunity to reduce financial pressures and ensure that
vulnerable children have access to the services they need to get
the best start in life.
Cllr , Chair of the LGA’s
Children and Young People Board, said:
“There has been a historic underfunding of high needs funding and
a significant increase in the number of pupils with special
educational needs or disabilities in schools.
“The Government should provide additional funding to meet this
need, otherwise councils may not be able to meet their statutory
duties and children with high needs or disabilities could
miss out on a mainstream education.
“Whilst the additional funding announced earlier in the year was
a step in the right direction, it was never enough to meet the
needs of the increasing number of SEND pupils.
“Councils are doing all that they can to make sure children with
SEND get the support and opportunities they need to flourish, but
are experiencing increasing demand for all services.
“Proposed changes to schools and high needs funding could also
make this problem even worse, taking away the freedom for
councils to top up high needs funding from other budgets if
necessary.
“The reset of the High Needs Funding Formula is the perfect
opportunity for the Government to ensure SEND pupils get the
support they need to succeed at school.”
ENDS
Notes to editors:
- 1. Our response to the Department for
Education’s stage two consultation on high needs funding formula
is available on request.
- 2. Local Government
Association response to £215m funding for children with special
educational needs and disabilities
