Why is there no funding to support my child’s needs?
All schools have funding to meet the needs of their pupils. For pupils with SEN there is extra funding in addition to this.
What funding does the school have to meet my child’s needs?
Schools have three sources of funding:
- funding to meet the needs of all pupils whether they have special educational needs(SEN) or not
- funding to meet the needs of pupils with SEN
- further funding from the Additional Educational Needs budget under which money was delegated to schools by the local authority.
In addition the new Pupil Premium though targeted at pupils with free school meals will often include pupils with SEN
How can I find out what money my school has to support my child?
School funding is set out in a legal document called ‘School Funding Scheme’. Local Authorities are required under section 52 of the School Standards and Framework Act 1998 to tell schools how much money they will have for the next financial year before 31 March. This is called preparing a budget statement. After the end of each financial year schools are required to report how they have spent that money, called an outturn statement. Further information can be found at:
Link to further information on schools funding
Details of schools budgets can be found at:
Link to information about schools budgets
Does the school have to explain how it is spending this money?
No. Since 2005 schools are only required to produce a ‘School Profile’. This is an online system and data is collected by the Department for Education. It does include a section called ‘How are we making sure that every child gets teaching to meet their individual needs?’ but the school only has space for approximately 200 words. Schools Profiles can be found on the DirectGov website along with other information about the school such as Ofsted reports and school performance data. Link to DirectGov website
For further information about SEN funding please see the Parent Partnership Service leaflet 'Funding special educational needs (SEN) in primary and secondary school'. There is a link to this leaflet in the right hand column.