Written Evidence by National Star (FES0063)

Education Committee

Further Education and Skills

About National Star  

National Star is a national charity providing specialist education, care and support to young people, aged 16-25, with complex medical needs and disabilities. Most of the young adults have education, health and care plans (EHCPs) and are funded through the high needs funding system. They come from across the UK, with the majority from England. National Star works with more than 50 different local authorities and NHS Integrated Care Boards (ICBs).  

National Star, as a Special Post-16 Institution (SPI), provides residential and day education at Ullenwood, Cheltenham, with additional day education provision in Wales, Worcester (sub-contracted by a mainstream further education provider) and Hereford. The charity also operates long-term accommodation for people who have left education in Cheltenham, Gloucester, Malvern and Hereford. Last year the charity supported 590 young adults and delivered more than one million hours of education, care and support. (www.nationalstar.org) 

Overview  

Specialist further education plays a critical role in preparing young people with special educational needs (SEND) for adulthood, yet its relevance is not recognised in the FE and Skills policy. The role of specialist FE is no different from its mainstream FE partner - to enable young people to learn skills, knowledge and behaviours that will allow them to lead meaningful lives as adults. What differentiates specialist colleges is that the students they work with need access to highly specialised experts in education, mental health, medical and therapies to enable them to learn. While some of National Star’s cohort will go on to paid employment, most will not be able to, due to their complex needs. All of them can learn to be as independent as they personally can, maintain social connections, play an active role in society and lead healthy and fulfilling lives. Ask any young adult with SEND and they will say that, first and foremost, they want to be treated as an equal and not “special”.  SEND currently has ministerial responsibility aligned to the schools system, under the Schools Minister, which doesn't provide any policy continuity for effectively supporting SEND into post-16 and post-19 settings and across FE, under the Minister for Higher and Further Education.  

Delivering Further Education 

Funding  

Issues 

Levels of high needs funding and criteria are inconsistent across England. National Star deals with at least 50 different local authorities (LAs) at any one time. The variation in funding between the LAs makes it difficult for the charity to plan budgets. 

Specialist colleges are viewed by local authorities as the placements of last resort and perceived as expensive. National Star, like other specialist colleges, uses a multi-disciplinary approach to provide impactful and cost-effective education, therapy and care, all in one package. National Star also shares its best practice with other professionals in the sector. 

There is a huge level of wasted resources in the system due to replication of work and lack of “joined-up” working practices across the sector. Examples of these include: 
 

•      Lack of standardisation around application processes and forms for high needs support results in National Star’s funding team spending extra time completing new forms as LAs will not accept the information in other formats. 
   

•      Due to LAs not meeting the statutory deadline of March 31 and the delays around funding decisions, National Star has needed to increase the number of young people it assesses to ensure it is at full capacity for each academic year. Once offered a place, students enrol at National Star on a “first funded” basis. 
   

•      Admission decisions are delayed due to lack of agreement between joint funders. For example, education and social care may agree to the funding but the Integrated Care Board (ICB) may disagree with the health costs. Each application can be subject to multiple panel meetings concerning “best interest” and costings. Panels and meetings are often cancelled at the last minute and it is a challenge to get all joint funders to sit down at one meeting. 
   

•      Places agreed by Children’s Services are often delayed because the young person turns 18 before admission and then adult social care disputes the decision. 
   

•      In a one-year period National Star has facilitated 14 local authority quality audit visits involving more than 163 hours of preparation time by numerous National Star staff. National Star is regulated by both Ofsted, Care Quality Commission and Estyn in Wales.  

Delays in payments from joint funders, including local authorities, lead to significant cash flow issues for charities such as National Star. The charity has had to employ additional staff to chase payments and collect debts from local authorities. At any one time, the charity can be owed a significant sum, often six figures. The charity has had many incidences where the local authority SEND teams have commissioned a placement but there have been delays in their health and social care colleagues agreeing to the split of contribution to fees. For example, at the end of September 2024, the charity should have had one third of its full year fees agreed, totalling £11.6m. However, the charity only had £9.8m agreed. The charity could not invoice the remaining £1.8m until it is agreed how the costs are split. In extreme cases this has taken longer than the academic year the placement was commissioned, meaning that the charity must stand the costs until resolved. When named in the EHCP, the charity is legally required to provide the place during the dispute on funding. Late placement decisions by local authorities impact on the young person and their family creating anxiety and challenges for the charity to recruit the appropriate skilled staff in time.   

National Star has had to allocate a significant increase in funding and staff time on tribunal work. These employees, along with the other specialists at the college who input into this process, spend more than 3,500 hours a year on tribunal work. The charity has seen an increase in the number of Cease Appeals for current learners where their extension requests are not being agreed. In the past 12 months the charity has been involved with 83 tribunals with 35 of those against local authorities for ceasing EHCPs. Of the 83 cases, 48 were conceded, had no further action taken or were upheld in favour of the young person. Only two tribunals ruled against the young person. The charity currently has 36 ongoing tribunal cases. There has been a 50% increase (year on year) in the number of National Star students asking for extension requests. This increase is largely due to the lack of social care provision post education and parents and families needing more time to find suitable arrangements. 

FE funding is disproportionately low compared with High Needs funding allocation to schools. While 27% of EHCP holders are aged 16 to 25, funding, according to the Local Government Association, in 2018 was 16%. The National Audit Office report highlighted that less than 10% of the High Needs budget is spent on this age group.   
 

There is an increasing number of local authorities missing the statutory March 31 deadline for high need support funding for specialist FE places. This causes considerable issues for National Star to plan for the following academic year and ensure the right staff are in position to support the cohort. 

Solutions 

•       The DfE should consider a national system of place planning, consistent with that already in place for centrally funding mainstream FE colleges and all specialist FE colleges, which would provide more certainty and financial stability for colleges.   
   

•       The DfE should look at reforms for SEND FE with the priority of a nationally or regionally administered funding system for the small number of young people with the most complex needs, i.e. low incidence/ high resource need and cost. This would provide consistent funding for individuals regardless of geographical location and reduce the waste and bureaucracy that results in dealing with multiple local authorities and different processes. 
   

•       The DfE should work with the Department of Health and Social Care to create more effective transition planning, both to enter college and leave college. Joint forward planning by local authorities, involving post-16 providers (general and specialist FE colleges), would facilitate agreement on placements and avoid the need for costly failed placements, appeals and tribunals.   
   

•       The DfE should develop a designation for independent specialist post-16 providers that recognises their statutory role and ensures specialist and mainstream FE colleges have equal access to Government support and funding for SEND. This should include a system of accountability, audit and compliance to protect effective use of public funds and ensure young people with SEND receive the best preparation for adulthood.  
   

•       Specialist colleges should be seen as centres of excellence and be part of a landscape of provision, with access to simplified funding systems and capital support to maintain and improve existing sites. Specialist colleges provide effective high needs SEND provision within the FE & Skills agenda and the DfE should look to capitalise and build upon the wealth of knowledge, expertise and resources available within the independent specialist providers rather than trying to replicate or avoid.    

•       The DfE should develop policy that ensures local authorities focus on long-term planning for each young person rather than short-term fixes. By prioritising early intervention and personalised support, future costs can be reduced as addressing needs early can prevent more intensive support later.    

Quality of facilities and capital investment strategy 

 Issues 

National Star, like other Specialist Post-16 providers, does not have equal access to Government capital funding and condition improvement funding. Unlike mainstream colleges, the charity does not have access to Government support, even though the charity is almost entirely state funded. The charity has received no statutory capital project funding in the past decade. The charity’s high level of specialist facilities is dependent solely on fundraising. In the past 10 years (2015-2025), the charity has invested £15m in capital projects for facilities. These works were funded through the charity and through capital project fundraising from trusts, foundations, major donors and the community. In spring 2025 the Government announced it would release £50 million as “one-off grants” to help colleges fund teacher pay rises. So far there has been no indication that any of the money will be available to specialist further education colleges. National Star is ineligible for the FE Capital Transformation Fund. 

Solutions 

•       SEND should be included as a priority within FE capital grants and specialist FE colleges should be brought into scope.   
   

Supporting young people, widening access, and narrowing the attainment gap 

The specific barriers to accessing and pursuing further education for those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND).   

Issues 

Young people with SEND must first be turned down by mainstream FE before they can be considered for specialist FE. Even though it is often evident that the mainstream FE cannot meet an individual’s needs, their application for specialist provision cannot be considered until they receive a written rejection from mainstream FE. This can cause delays that result in a young person missing a year of specialist college and being out of education and causes the young person to feel repeated failure and rejection. 

There is a waiting list for specialist college places due to a gap in social care provision. The crisis in adult social services has a massive impact on the post-16 landscape. The lack of planning and preparation for transition results in more families seeking college extensions to secure more time to find the most suitable post education solution. National Star, as listed within the EHCP, has a statutory obligation to hold that place for the young person until a decision is made or it has gone through the legal process. That has resulted in more young people waiting for a place to start at National Star. This is not only stressful for the young adults but places pressure on the family if that young person is out of education, living at home and has no access to meaningful activities. In the current academic year (2024-2025) National Star has seen a 50% increase in the number of extension requests (year on year). 

Young adults with SEND and their families and carers find it difficult to access high quality and timely impartial Information, advice and guidance (IAG) about their post-16 options. Specialist further education, especially residential college and out of county provision, is not listed on the local offer. Even when the residential college is in county it is not listed on that county’s local offer. Young people and their families and carers must depend on their own research and information from fellow families to make informed decisions. This results in young people and those supporting them not being fully informed of all options available to them. 

The lack of statutory transport makes college inaccessible for young adults, aged 16 to 18. Young people cannot access day college places at National Star if there is no transport support from their local authority. Most parents cannot provide the daily transport due to cost and work commitments. 

The lack of choice makes it difficult for young adults to find a suitable specialist provision that meets their needs. For some young adults with SEND, residential college may be inappropriate but there is a lack of specialist FE education in local areas. 

The lack of a national standardised process for high needs support applications and funding results in wasted time and money and young people missing out on education places. National Star works with more than 50 local authorities every year – all of whom use different application and funding forms and use a variety of different portals. The charity loses hundreds of hours of staff time annually as the funding and admissions teams must transfer funding information on different local authority funding forms and constantly log in to different LA portals to check progress of applications. This time-consuming additional admin can often lead to young people missing out on places because of the challenges the teams have with tracking applications. 

Solutions 

•       The DfE should standardise application processes for post-16 with SEND to ensure that the applications can be dealt with in a timely manner that is in the best interests of the young person. This includes removing the need for young people to have a written refusal from a mainstream FE before they can be considered for specialist FE, when it is clear and obvious that the mainstream FE would be unable to meet need. 
   

•       Extend the existing statutory duty on LAs to provide home to school transport so that it covers young adults with an EHCP up to the age of 25 travelling to a college. Government should require LAs to agree transport arrangements at the same time as naming the college in an EHCP. 
   

•       Provide financial incentives and more streamlined commissioning for specialist and general FE to create joint commissioning projects for specialist provision in mainstream settings. In September 2024, National Star started delivering high quality SEND provision within a mainstream FE, The Heart of Worcestershire College. The two providers, with the support of Worcestershire County Council, created specialist provision within the local area.  
   

•       The DfE should ensure that impartial IAG is easily accessible for all young people with SEND and their families, regardless of local area, from Year 9 onwards. It should be provided by a professional who understands complex needs and the full range of options available. 
   

•       The DfE and the Department of Health and Social Care should work collaboratively to resolve the issues in adult social care so that young people and their families can transition from education into adulthood in a timely and organised way. This would reduce the pressure on the post-16 SEND education system by reducing the demand for extension requests and ensure all young people with SEND do not have to wait for FE places.  

•       The Government and the DfE need to formulate policy that ensures the following for all post-16 young adults with SEND: 

•                  Preparation – Early preparation is critical for the successful transition out of education. Young people should have the opportunity to make choices about their future and receive support to prepare them for adulthood. Young people with EHCPs are known to local authorities and planning should start earlier to ensure continuity and best interests.   
   

•                  Planning – Focus on the long-term not the short-term. Planning must create sustainable services that provide fulfilling lives for young disabled adults. What matters most is the person at the centre.    
   

•                  Progressive – All organisations including the local authority need to work together to plan all transitions. This needs to be done with the young person at the centre and their needs and aspirations informing all plans. Families, commissioners and providers need to execute the plan, through a system that is navigable and enabling, not daunting and confrontational.    

•       The DfE should work with local authorities to standardise post-16 SEND FE funding processes. The department could lead on creating a central EHCP portal and application process that enables a single secure portal to deal with all local authorities around SEND funding. 

March 2025

6