Schools Forum
2nd December 2014
•Agenda item 7a
High Needs
•Funding Pressures/Overview
•Development of the RAS
Alison Shipley
Bob Seaman
Funding Pressures
• Project group set up to look at financial
pressures regarding High Needs Funding.
• Project to be lead by SEN, Finance and LSE
commissioners
• Project plan and initial findings to Forum in
January.
Work undertaken so far
• Updated high needs monitoring & starting to
estimate 2015-16 needs
• Identified AP pressure for 2015-16 from
increasing numbers of permanent exclusions. See
proposals to avoid budget overspend.
• Exceptional cases submission made to EFA to try
to get additional high needs funding to reflect
15-16 growth and pressures
Work undertaken so far
• Special school data collection Oct and November
2014 – to project impact 2015-16 & 2016-17
• £1.5m into 2015-16 base from fairer funding for
areas funded in 2014-15 from carry forwards £0.7m special schools, £0.8m EFA post 16
recoupment
• Other areas funded from c-fwds in 2014-15 but
still to resolve funding in 2015-16 include £0.1m hospital and outreach post 16 work and
£0.2m VI provision (VI - part year impact 15-16)
High Needs Finance Overview
Figures in £m
201415
Underlying High needs
block 14-15 - underspend
0.4
2015
-16
Comments
Monitoring excluding EFA 13-14
£1.2m recoupment adjustment
High needs contingency
1.3
Retained but one off funding
Contribution from Fairer
Funding
0.3
£0.3 contribution to pressures/block
(in addition to £1.5m)
DSG grant 15-16 –
exceptional cases
?
Awaiting announcement December 14
Impact of increasing
pressures
?
Further work being undertaken - to
bring initial findings to Jan 15 forum
High needs panel – early years
• 59 applications submitted to the 5 panel
meetings June to November 2014.
• 50 approved (85%), 1 deferred and 8 no’s
• The no’s are mainly due to poor applications.
Feedback is provided on the specific areas of the
application that need to be improved
High needs panel – primary and
secondary
• 143 applications submitted to the 5 panel
meetings June to November 2014.
• 92 approved (64%), 4 deferred and 47 no’s
• The no’s are mainly because the application
didn’t meet the criteria within the SEN
descriptors or panel felt the needs could be met
within the schools high needs element 2 funding
(£6k)
Development of the RAS
What is a RAS and why do we need one?
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A Resource Allocation System
Produces an indicative figure based on the needs of
the child/ young person
A fairer method of distributing resource
In line with new legislation and guidance
Children and Families Act 2014, Part 3(s.49)
The Special Educational Needs (Personal Budgets) Regulations
2014
SEND Code of Practice 2014
Development of the RAS
How will the RAS be used?
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The RAS will be a tool to more accurately match and
distribute existing funds based on needs.
It will be used for:
1. School placement funding for children with an
EHC plan
2. Personal Budgets for EHC Plans
Development of the RAS
What does this mean for schools?
 A change in the way school placement funding is allocated
A more transparent and equitable funding system
A needs led assessment
Phased Implementation in line with Transition Review from
a statement to an EHC plan
Development of the RAS
What have we done already?
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Established a workstream including reps from
Education (including schools), Social Care, Health &
Finance
Developed a Needs Profile across all three agencies
Data Collection of 30 individual cases in October
Data Collection of 45 individual cases in November
Worked to develop a configuration document of
standard costs
Explored I.T. options & begun process mapping
Development of the RAS
When will the RAS go live?
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The RAS is scheduled to be used from April 2015
Currently on track to meet this deadline
A lot of work to do in a short space of time
Risk that the IT build may take longer than
anticipated
Development of the RAS
Next Steps
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Complete process mapping
I.T. build
Model building, testing & further amendments
Consultation
Staff training
Go Live!
Any Questions?