Funding for children and young people with SEND

The way that early years settings, such as nurseries and pre-schools, are funded is complex. However, there is funding available to support the needs of individual children with SEND in early years.

The Department for Education gives money to local authorities to fund hours for 3 and 4-year-olds and disadvantaged 2-year-olds. There will also be funding available for all children aged 2 years old from April 2024, and 9 months and above from September 2024.

The money that local authorities get includes:

• An hourly amount, which is the same amount paid to all providers in every local authority.
• Extra funding to support children who may need more support, such as those who have English as an additional language or who come from a deprived or rural area. This amount is different for each local authority, depending on their needs.
• A special educational needs inclusion fund (SENIF), which should be targeted at children with lower level or emerging special educational needs (SEN).

In Devon, pre-schools and nurseries can also apply for extra funding for children with more complex SEN. This is called Individual Inclusion Funding. A child’s needs have to meet certain criteria to be eligible. For example, if they’re supported by the Early Years Complex Needs Team or have a medical need that impacts on their learning. The amount of funding a nursery or pre-school will get will depend on how many hours a child is there each week and how much and what kind of support they need.

If your child’s nursery or pre-school is applying for Individual Inclusion Funding, you will need to agree and you’ll be asked to sign a consent form.

The support for a young child with an EHC plan is funded from element 3 funding (see school age children section below).

Mainstream schools – Maintained schools and academies

All mainstream schools have money for special educational needs support. It’s part of their budget and is sometimes called the notional SEN budget. Each school can decide how to spend this money. It’s not separate, or ringfenced, from the schools main budget.

Each school plans the support they will give across the school and for individual children. They should make sure that there is enough effective support for children and young people with SEND to make progress.

The funding given to schools is made up of three main parts.

Element 1- Age Weighted Pupil Unit (AWPU)

This is money which each school gets for every child that goes there, whether they have SEND or not.

This money funds all the teaching and general resources in the school within the normal curriculum. Element 1 funding usually pays for universal support. It includes a small amount for general SEND support. For example, it would usually pay for the SENCO’s salary.

The local authority gives this funding to the schools it’s responsible for. The Education and Skills Funding Agency gives this funding for academies and free schools.

Element 2 – for all children with SEND

Children with SEND need support in school that is extra to, and different from, the support that children without SEND get. These needs are usually funded from element 2 funding. Element 2 is extra funding that schools get each year just to support children with SEND. How much each child and school gets is worked out using a set formula.

Government guidance says schools should use element 2 funding to give up to the first £6,000 of extra or different support for those children who need it. That includes children with an Education, Health and Care plan. This does not mean that the school will spend £6,000 on every child with SEND though. Sometimes schools use money to help groups of children and some children will need less help than others. Element 2 funding usually pays for targeted support.

Element 3 – Top up or high needs block funding

This supports children and young people with the most complex and highest level of need, whose support costs more that elements 1 and 2 together. That means children and young people with an Education Health and Care (EHC) plan who need specialist support.

This funding is also meant to support alternative provision for children under 16 who have been excluded, or who cannot go to school because of illness or other reasons.

The local authority is responsible for managing Element 3 funding. For a child with an EHC plan, element 3 funding is given to a child’s school based on the cost of the specific support needed for them.

You can ask your school how it uses its SEN budget to support your child. The local authority also publishes a Local Offer that explains what type of resources this money might be spent on.

Special schools and educational settings

Special schools aren’t funded in the same way as mainstream schools. Instead, they get £10,000 for each place that the local authority needs. Special schools also get extra top up funding, which varies depending on the needs of each child.

The Education and Skills Funding Agency fund sixth-form colleges, further education (FE) colleges, sixth-forms in schools, sixth-forms in academies, special schools and special academies. The funding is for study programmes for young people.

They fund:

• students aged 16 to 19
• students up to the age of 25 with an education, health and care (EHC) plan
• 14- to 16 year-olds who are directly enrolled into eligible Further Education institutions
• young people of compulsory school age at any FE college who are electively home educated

The amount of funding given to a college or sixth form is worked out using a national funding formula each academic year. Special schools and academies are funded based on the number of places they have.

Pupil Premium

The Pupil Premium is extra funding given to schools so that they can support disadvantaged children and young people. The aim of this extra funding is to help improve the educational results for this group of children. Schools get a pupil premium for all children who are eligible for free school meals, whether they have SEND or not.  

Pupil Premium Plus

This is an extra fund for children in care (looked after children), adopted children (previously looked after children), children under a special guardian or care arrangement order. It’s available for children from reception to year 11. For children in care, the funding goes to the local authority’s virtual school and for other children it is paid directly to a child’s school.

Pupil premium plus isn’t ringfenced for your individual child. But their school must be able to show how eligible children are benefitting from their use of pupil premium plus. That might include using it for things like training staff in attachment, nurture and therapy groups and employing key adult staff, mentors or a counsellor.

You can find out more about it on the Adopt South West website and on the Adoption UK website.

Service Pupil Premium

This is extra funding for schools to support children and young people with parents in the armed forces. The funding is available between reception and year 11. You need to tell the school admin staff or the headteacher if

• your child has a parent serving in the regular armed forces (including a parent who is on full commitment as part of the full time reserve)
• one of their parents died whilst serving in the armed forces, and your child gets a pension as a result
• your child has been registered as a ‘service child’ on the January school census at any point since 2016

You can find more information on the gov.uk website.

This is money that you can get as a parent carer of a child with special educational needs or a disability, to help support you with extra costs. Some young people over 16 with SEND are also entitled to receive funding. This money doesn’t go to your child’s nursery, school or college, but instead is paid directly to you or your young person.

Disability Living allowance (DLA)

To be eligible for DLA your child will need to be

• under 16 and
• have difficulty walking or need much more looking after than a child of the same age who does not have a disability.

Your child does not need a diagnosis but you will need to be able to show that your child needs substantially more care or supervision than other children the same age. The decision about whether to give DLA, and at what level, is based on how their condition affects their day to day life.

You can get DLA for your child regardless of whether you are working or not. It isn’t means-tested, so it does not matter what income or savings you have. The DLA rate is between £26.90 and £172.50 a week and depends on the level of help your child needs. You can find out more on the Contact website.

Personal Independence Payment (PIP)

When your young person reaches 16, they may be eligible for a Personal Independence Payment. It’s similar to DLA and can help with extra living costs if your young person has both:

• a long-term physical or mental health condition or disability
• difficulty doing certain everyday tasks or getting around because of your condition

Your young person can get PIP even if they’re working, have savings or are getting most other benefits. You can find out more on the Citizen’s Advice Bureau website.