Agenda item

Johnny Kyriacou presented the report setting out the allocation of centrally retained funds within the High Needs Block;  this is funding retained by the local authority to carry out its functions in line with the guidance on the high needs block.  He advised that some budgets have been reduced, which may have some impact on schools. One example of this is the “hard to place pupils” funding, which has reduced to £60k from a previous level of £220k and is likely to be reduced to zero by next year. The reason for this reduction is that it is not what the high needs funding is intended to be for; the LA and schools will need to work with each other to look at alternative funding sources if that work is to continue. 

Funding for “Earlier Interventions” has been increased; this is to look at intervention initiatives so the LA would welcome groups or headteachers looking into the use of that fund; this is the fund to be used to look at early intervention and early prevention for children with special needs and disabilities, and to support children at risk of exclusion.

The Chair thanked Johnny Kyriacou for the report, noting that Forum doesn't have any decision making powers over the high needs centrally retained funds. Questions were invited.

Peter Collins asked about hard to place funding and the plan to reduce that ultimately to zero;  what would this mean in terms of the rare but expensive occasions where there is a student, usually Year 11, where the outcome from FAP is commissioning of a place through the College, rather than placement in school, and which therefore needs to be paid for. The risk is that one or two secondary schools, through the fair access process for receiving a child, then end up picking up a really expensive bill in terms of provision that they may not have the in-year funds for. Johnny Kyriacou  confirmed that essentially the high needs block money is supposed to be used for children at risk of exclusion or for children with SEND, and agreed to look at such scenarios to ensure there would be clarity in the future.