Councils will be required to increase special school and alternative provision budgets by 3.4 per cent next year – a victory for Schools Week’s ‘SEND robbery’ campaign.
Schools Week investigations have revealed how cash-strapped local authorities kept millions of pounds in previous school funding rises from special schools.
Government previously promised that cash from the additional £400m high needs funding announced in last month’s Autumn statement would be passed on, but did not provide details.
Conditions attached to the grant, published today, now state councils “must make an allocation that is equivalent to 3.4% of the estimated total grant funding of the school”.
While councils have the ability to reduce the number of places used for calculating a school’s allocation where they think it “does not accurately represent the school’s real position”, this can only be done with the education secretary’s consent.
