Schools to be required to ‘pool a portion of their funding’ for SEND
The legislation that will reform the special education needs and disabilities (SEND) system will be the ‘Education for All’ bill, it was confirmed during the King’s Speech this week. In his address at the state opening of parliament on 13 May, King Charles said that his ministers ‘believe that every child deserves the chance to succeed to the best of his or her ability and not be held back due to poverty, special educational needs, or a lack of respect for vocational education’, adding ‘A bill will be brought forward to raise standards in schools and introduce generational reforms of the special educational needs system.’
The exact content of the bill will be subject to the results of the ongoing SEND consultation, which closes on 18 May, but documents published alongside the speech confirm that the five previously released principles for reform, namely that provision should be early, local, fair, effective and shared. The SEND white paper Every child achieving and thriving, published earlier this year included proposals for there to be a requirement for schools to create individual support plans (ISPs) for all children with SEND, alongside new national inclusion standards. New ‘Targeted’, ‘Targeted Plus’ and ‘Specialist’ levels of support were also proposed, with only children and young people deemed to require the ‘Specialist’ level of support eligible for an education, health and care plan (EHCP). However, pupils with an existing ECHP in specialist provision would keep it until the end of their schooling, with those in mainstream settings keeping their EHCP until the end of the phase they’re currently in.
The white paper also promised more than £200 million of investment, covering children with SEND in their earliest years through to age 25, with all teachers, leaders, teaching assistants and support staff benefiting from new training. Briefing notes published alongside the King’s speech say that the DfE will fund schools ‘on a fair and consistent basis, wherever they are in
the country, and [require] schools to pool a portion of their funding for SEND.’
Responding to the King’s speech, NASUWT general secretary Matt Wrack took issue with this proposal, saying: ‘In order to reserve funds to spend specifically on SEND, schools will require an increase in funding – especially if they are to accommodate larger numbers of pupils with more complex levels of SEND, as per government proposals. It is not yet clear when or how such funding will materialise. Our current calculations suggest that the government’s proposed investment will be nowhere near enough. Meanwhile, teachers are holding classes for SEND pupils in staff rooms and portacabins, and buying resources with their own money.’
In other reaction, Pepe Di’Iasio, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, also focused on funding: ‘The Education for All Bill is clearly well-intentioned in its aim to improve support for children and young people with SEND. We await more details on many aspects of the Bill and the white paper, including exactly how funding will be pooled between groups of schools. Our overriding concern is that there is not enough money in the system to deliver the changes set out in the Bill. Schools are already in a precarious financial position, and the additional expectations being placed on them are significant. There has got to be sufficient investment to enable schools to provide the level of individual support that is expected. We are currently a long way off schools being funded on a fair and consistent basis in the way that the Bill anticipates.’
Meanwhile Leona Cruddas, chief executive of the Confederation of School Trusts, welcomed a potential new approach to SEND provision: ‘The current ‘deficit model’ approach too often focuses on what children can’t do. Encouraging inclusive support within mainstream schools while recognising the crucial work of the specialist sector offers a more positive approach,
with quicker and more local support to help all children succeed.’