Financing the SEND system: Education Committee questions experts
The Education Committee will question experts on how funding to help children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) can be planned and spent more effectively.
Meeting details
MPs will hear from the National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT), the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS), and National Association of Independent Schools & Non-Maintained Special Schools. The panel also includes the County Councils Network and the F40 group, which represents local authorities receiving the smallest amounts of education funding under the Government’s National Funding Formula.
All types of school receive funding for SEND from local authorities, which distribute money issued by the Government. Schools typically receive £6,000 per pupil needing ‘SEND support’ as a part of their funding – an amount that hasn’t increased since it was introduced in 2014.
MPs will ask the panel what level of funding should be provided and whether it should be ringfenced, as previous witnesses have told the Committee this funding is sometimes used for other purposes than SEND.
Schools receive further funding for pupils with more severe needs, and who have an Education Health and Care (EHC) Plan. According to the IFS, the Government’s ‘high needs’ funding has increased by 59% since 2015-16. But the F40 group said these increases have been insufficient due to increased demand from children with complex needs, inflation and other factors – in real terms it amounted to a 35% cut, according to the NAO. F40 also argue the Government’s funding formula doesn’t fairly distribute money according to levels of need.
There will be questions on how the Government can make the distribution of funding more targeted and equitable between local authorities.
The witnesses will also be asked about how greater focus on early intervention could provide better value for money; how spending on transport for children with SEND could be more efficient; and how better use of data collection and analysis could assist the government on where money could be better spent.
Later in the session there will be questions about accountability and oversight of SEND provision that is commissioned from independent schools, and how local government should be funded for SEND in the future as budget deficits continue to rise.