1-1 Funding

[iwillnevereatspaghetti]

We have a place for our son at a private school which we want to take up. His ECHP has outlined a banding level which would mean if he was in a state school he'd be entitled to 29-34 hours. The LA are suggesting that the school should fund the first £6k of 1-1 support which is not the same as under the old statement system. Any one got any ideas what we can do (we can't afford the £6k ourselves)

[iwillnevereatspaghetti]

it's a small school, they can't afford to pay for non-funded hours.

[GraciesMansion]

Have the LA agreed to name the school in the EHCP and therefore fund the support?

[iwillnevereatspaghetti]

No they've named a special school, which we don't want as the class sizes are double the size and will add an unacceptable level of noise.

[GraciesMansion]

He's unlikely to get any support at all then I'm afraid. The school won't fund it.

[iwillnevereatspaghetti]

But that doesn't make any sense, my daughter has the same disability and is also in an independent school, she has over 20 hours funded currently (down from a maximum of 35) in the past few years.

[knittingwithnettles]

You need to appeal against the school named, and use evidence that the cost to the LA of the placement in special school they want, is no less than the cost of sending him to indie school. If there is a difference in cost (and this is discounting the first £6,000) you have to argue that the placement is not suitable, possibly with professional reports or recent evidence of his needs; in fact the needs outlined in the EHCP and the provision outlined in relation to those needs should show that the Indie school is more suitable.

If the provision is not sufficiently quantified and specified and the EHCP does not make reference to hours or environment or class sizes you can appeal not only against the placement but against Part F (the provision)

Ring up Ipsea, and if necessary email them, they are quite helpful in sending back info by email if you cannot get through on a personal basis. They will explain the legal aspects.

You need to appeal before the time limit on the covering letter with the EHCP. If you can find out what the cost to the LA is of the Special school and transport etc, is it nearer or further than your preferred school for example? Would you be willing to forgo transport in order to save money which could be put towards the fees - another argument you could give to get Indie.

The LA initially refused to pay an extra £5,000 saying it had to come out of the school budget, but combination of appealing and standing our ground and threatening JR in long run meant they gave in before the appeal was even a few days old. I think if you just show the facts/evidence to them and show you mean to pursue the matter they will often come to the conclusion that it is not worth proceeding to Tribunal, but you have to show them you have the facts at your disposal.

[knittingwithnettles]

I don't know the banding arrangements in your LA but in our LA 34 hours would be a considerable amount of money extra to the notional funding for SEN which is what they are talking about with this £6,000. If you google banding you might find out what the extra money allocated is in your LA (or you could request they give you this information directly) and then do your sums accordingly. I suspect they are just trying to fob you off and not wanting to set a precedent or admit their school is not up to scratch.

In the end, if the special school they suggest cannot meet the needs in the EHCP, then it doesn't matter how much it costs the LA, it is not a suitable placement. However, you can beat them with this stick on the one hand and persuade them with the carrot of reason on the other (ie this good placement only costs £2,000 or so more than you were prepared to pay for bad placement) I really don't see how the notional SEN funding comes into it, it is still the cost for the LA of sending a child to a state school whether it is notional or not.

[knittingwithnettles]

"you were prepared to pay" meaning " the [you]LA were prepared to pay"

[SisterViktorine]

It has been the case for a very long time that the (state) school funds the first 6k from their notional SEN funding and then HN block funding comes in on top of that.

The 6k isn't money the authority puts in for specific named children- how much money a school is given just takes into account how much SEN they might be dealing with worked out from a generic formulae. You can't somehow fish this money out of the state system and port it with your DS to the independent sector as it isn't sitting in a pot with his name on it.

I am surprised the LA are prepared to put any funding into an independent school, in my experience where pupils have 1-1 in an independent the parents are paying the full cost of that on top of the fees.