Funding variations for pupils with special educational needs and disability in England, 2014

Marsh, Alan

doi:10.1177/1741143215595417

Cited by 10 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 6 publications

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“…The project involved desktop research of the relationship between different variables through correlational and partial correlational analysis based on the methods used by Marsh (2017). The databases that are readily available are listed below.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fair funding and levelling up for pupils with special educational needs and disability in England 2014 to 2023

Marsh¹

2022

Preprint

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This study explores the variations in funding by relative need, allocated to English local authorities (LAs) for special educational needs and disability, by analysis of the schools National Funding Formula (NFF). The findings demonstrate continuing and significant differences in high needs (HN) funding between demographically similar LAs, despite a £3.5 billion (67%) increase in the HN budget since 2014-15. The funding variations range from £1,066 to £537 per pupil. The differences are largely the result of historical spending arrangements together with the application of a funding floor increase of 8% for all LAs and a funding ceiling of 11%. There is also a significant link between the level of LA funding and their use of specialist provision and statutory assessments. The discussion explores the Government’s policy of fair funding and the NFF implementation, and concludes that any mechanisms which are applied to protect funding stability should not undermine levelling up.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fair funding and levelling up for pupils with special educational needs and disability in England 2014 to 2023

Marsh¹

2022

Preprint

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“…Another funding element is the notional SEN budget, which is the cash amount a school receives through an LA formula for pupils at SEN support. This has also been shown to vary widely, even where schools are demographically similar (DfE, ; Marsh, ). LAs with high EHC plans are funded at £296 per 2–18 population, whereas LAs with low EHC plans are funded at £241 per 2–18 population, a 23% difference.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Education, health and care plans and tribunals in England: A statistical tale from 2019

Marsh¹,

Howatson²

2020

British Educational Res J

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Education, health and care (EHC) plans were introduced in England in 2014, as a replacement for statements of special educational needs. Unexpectedly, the number of children and young people in receipt of an EHC plan rose by 49% during the 5 years up to 2019. Whilst most of the increase has been due to the extension of the age range up to age 25, there has still been a notable rise of 20% in the 0-15-year range. This study explores the trends and variations in EHC plans and tribunals within English local authorities (LAs) for children and young people with special educational needs and disability (SEND) by interrogating the latest full set of data from 2013 to 2018. Two quintile groups (n = 30) are used for comparing LAs with high and low levels of EHC plans and LA case studies are also presented for further inspection of the data. Wide variations across LAs still exist for EHC plans (5.2% to 1.0%) and tribunal appeals (43 to 0 per 10,000). LAs with low EHC plans have more appealable decisions at tribunals and are financed at significantly lower levels than LAs with high EHC plans, largely due to an historic spend factor of 50% in the national funding formula. There are also clear differences between the English regions for both EHC plans and tribunals, with high increases for both in the South East. The implications of the findings are discussed within the framework of LA critical self-reviews, benchmarking, fiscal constraints and inclusion.EHC plans and tribunals in England 2019 575 © 2020 British Educational Research Association . . . more robustly investigate the reasons for local variations and establish the extent to which the variations can reasonably be explained. It should challenge local areas that are outliers in respect of measures such as the proportion of pupils with EHC plans and use of high-cost provision, in order to reduce unnecessary variation, increase confidence in the fairness of the system, identify good practice and promote improvement. (p. 12) PostscriptWhilst this article was undergoing peer review, there were further publications by the Department for Education (DfE, 2019a;, the Ministry of Justice, 2018, 2019) and the House of Commons Education Committee (2019a; 2019b). The number of EHC plans increased by 34,000 (11%) in the previous 12 months and by 49% since EHC plans and tribunals in England 2019 589

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“…A sign of the stress this has put on the system is that 38 LAs applied for additional flexibility and 22 were allowed to transfer funds above 0.5% in 2018-9 4 . The HNB is also still dependent on historical factors for 50% of the funding leading to disparities in resourcing for similar sized LAs based on previous practice and more recent changes in the profile of needs (Marsh, 2017;Parish et al, 2018). It is also becoming less financially tenable for LAs to manage the increasing demand for EHCPs with 85−90% of the HNB now dedicated to meeting individual identified needs in statutory assessments (Parish et al, 2018, p. 5;Children's Commissioner for England, 2019b).…”

Section: Fundingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Statutory Assessment for Special Educational Needs and the Warnock Report; the First 40 Years

Lamb

2019

Front. Educ.

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The Warnock report 'Special Educational Needs' (Warnock, 1978) provided the catalyst for an enduring framework of individual statutory assessment 1 in England for children and young people (CYP) with Special Educational Needs (SEN). Through its implementation in the Education Act (1981), enhanced in the Education Act (1993) and consolidated in the Education Act (1996), the report established the overall SEN framework in England for last 40 years; laying the foundation for statements of SEN and more recently Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCPs). The underlying legal structure has been reinforced with the introduction of the Children and Families Act (2014). However, by establishing the right to specified levels of resource for individual CYP, the Warnock framework has risked undermining adequate provision and parental confidence in the Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) framework; a central dilemma of the SEND system. This review considers the development of the statutory assessment system and the consequences of this specific model of securing provision for CYP with complex needs. It also explores the importance of securing parental confidence in the non-statutory offer. While additional legislation to strengthen the SEND framework is desirable the Government could begin to address concerns about the quality of the non-statutory offer through a more rigorous implementation of current legislation linked to reforms in funding, accountability and a renewed focus on rights based legislation in education. The conclusions are focused on the English system but the analysis is relevant to other jurisdiction's assessment, funding, and accountability models.

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Funding variations for pupils with special educational needs and disability in England, 2014

Cited by 10 publications

References 6 publications

Fair funding and levelling up for pupils with special educational needs and disability in England 2014 to 2023

Fair funding and levelling up for pupils with special educational needs and disability in England 2014 to 2023

Education, health and care plans and tribunals in England: A statistical tale from 2019

Statutory Assessment for Special Educational Needs and the Warnock Report; the First 40 Years

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