Council taking school budgets

[Sandcastles24]

I don't know much about school funding. Please can those with more knowledge on the topic enlighten me on how the schools can use their funding. I always thought SEn was a separately funded by the local councils.
https://democracy.bcpcouncil.gov.uk/mgEPetitionDisplay.aspx?ID=218&RPID=6180278&HPID=6180278&%24LO%24=1&fbclid=IwAR0gUnFu4wCk0fX3U1BtucIvnm7tQp85mZX-K4uod5qwH6jZXYkrP1BiNFE

I have seen a petition to stop a local council taking over 10% of school budgets for this which obviously there isn't funds in the school budget for.
Also how can a council limit sen plans when that should vary by the need in any year

Am i right that this is outrageous of the local council to try and effectively steal money from the local schools to cover their responsibilities.

Or am I being unreasonable and this is a normal practice for which is already money included in the school funding?

I don't know about school funding specifically in England, but I do know that councils are going bankrupt on the regular now, and I read an article on the Guardian website this morning about how BCP in particular was struggling with its SEND spend.

There's no point talking about councils' obligations as though that's the end of the argument. Local government funding has been hollowed out over many years while the list of things they are expected to do increases, and the money coming in no longer allows them to meet those obligations. It is outrageous if you look at it in isolation but it's probably one outrageous option out of a whole list of outrageous option they've had to choose from.

You are right the councils don't have the money either. Therefore it is the central government budget cutting councils now being passed down to schools that have already had their budgets squeezed.
I can't see how this will do anything other than disadvantage the children inschools even further
There must be other ways for the local government to balance the books than taking a slice of school budgets?

Our council have greatly reduced the number of recycling areas around the city, all to save £100k. Meanwhile they are providing increasing numbers of taxis to help get children with additional needs to school.

Councils "top slice" budgets for maintained schools to fund the service they provide. The top slice happens before the schools receive their budget. This funding would be used for some council SEND provision - such as EPs or Behaviour support, but can't be used to fund statutory provisions such as Special school places.

Councils can not top slice Academy schools, so often Academies buy back into some council provision or provide their own for non-statutory services.

To fund statutory provision, such as Special Needs School places, the council has High Needs funding block as part of its Dedicated Schools Grant. This is taken from all schools (including Academies) before they receive their budgets. Usually the % or amount of funding is "agreed" between School's forum and the council with some guidance from the DfE in regard to how much is reasonable. However, increasingly, councils are finding that they have big deficits in the High Needs funding block and are seeking to increase the amount they take from schools.

This isn't a new thing- three years ago in my LA we were told that we had to fund an extra £15,000 per school as a one off or have a significant increase to the % contribution going forward as there was a £1 million in year deficit.

However, whilst not a new thing, the demands on the HNB are rising much faster than the budget available. The DfE has oversight of each council's HNB budget and will intervene (but not give them more money) if they are prediciting large deficits. The intervention is referrred to as a Safety Valve Agreement
https://www.lgcplus.com/services/children/dfe-agrees-20-safety-valve-deals-to-address-send-deficits-21-03-2023/

Schools also have a ‘notional’ SEN budget, which is part of their overall funding.
Included in the school budget, not ring fenced, but in place to fund spending associated with SEND, either for children at SEND support within school or before EHCP.

None of the funding is enough though, but Central government have not kept up with the funding requirements as the number of SEND pupils rises.

LA’s high needs block includes transport ( rising costs) and the massive per pupil costs of independent special provision ( because politically the direction is that LA’s cannot open new schools, only an Academy trust can) - think £80-£100,000 per child per year average, plus transport(often out of area) There are not enough maintained school specialist places, 96% of parents who go to tribunal are awarded an independent specialist place.

High needs block in my LA has a £10 million overspend, rising to at least £90 million in the next three years, if things remain the same.

Safety Valve agreements are about
-reducing the number of EHCPs awarded in the first place
-reducing the amount of EHCPs that recommend specialist provision
-ensuring "inclusive" practice to increase the number of SEND pupils remaining in mainstream
-reducing the spend on Specialist provision places- making choices based on what the cost is rather than the need

I'm so glad I got out of headship!

https://schoolsweek.co.uk/schools-sound-alarm-over-frightening-11-funding-raid/

Thanks for these really informative replies. I donthave any skin in the game hence I had no idea it worked like this. The more money taken off the top for SEN the less for regular teachers.

It is a really strange system. I would expect schools to be supportive of parents applying for EHCP when they are needed. This system seems to insentivise them to put up road blocks because of targets and funding issues. It is a mess.

I also sympathise with the increasing needs. From reading mumsnet. Some better informed parents seem able to push through plans more than others with a greater need.

I was really nieve in how I thought this would work.