Frequently Asked Questions

Finance/Funding

How are Local Authorities and schools financed for SEN?

The question of the resources available for SEN provision in schools is linked to the wider question of the level of resources available for education generally. Each year the Government sets out what it considers to be a reasonable and affordable level of spending on education. It then ensures funding to local authorities for this amount: this is distributed to individual local authorities through Standard Spending Assessments (SSAs). Each local authority must set its own education budget, taking account of local priorities.

LAs allocate resources between maintained schools in their area under schemes that must follow regulations under the School Standards and Framework Act 1998. It is for each LA to devise and revise its own scheme having regard to local needs and circumstances. Schemes require budgets to be delegated to schools; once budgets are delegated, schools' governing bodies take decisions on precisely how to deploy the resources available but the budget statements that LAs are required to produce must show each school's notional budget for SEN. Regulations also require that from April 2002, LAs must publish details of the kinds of support arrangements they expect maintained schools in their areas to normally provide from their budgets under School Action and School Action Plus. LAs are also required to publish their own plans for providing appropriate SEN support - particularly under School Action Plus.

Children whose needs cannot be met out of a maintained mainstream school's budget share - that is, the child's needs cannot be met through School Action or School Action Plus - are likely to need assessment and a statement. For a child with a statement of SEN, LAs have a duty to arrange the provision specified within the statement. This means that the LA is responsible for providing the support and additional expenditure that is required, either through employing staff to provide the additional hours of support and supplying any equipment specified in the statement, or through identifying extra funding for the school educating the pupil, whether funding for statements is held centrally by the LA or the LA devolves funds to schools on an earmarked basis or delegates funds to the schools.