Do councils have to pay for children educated in other LEAs?

[Blu]

And if so, do all LEAs charge the same amount?

My dd goes to a SN school across the LEA boundary cops this county hasn't got one. No idea what they are charged.

Lots of children go to schools in neighbouring boroughs if they live very close to the border, too.

And in our borough, there are not enough school places, so many children go eleswhere.

Also faith school often disregard proximity and take significant numbers of children from other LEAs.

I wonder how they work it all out?

Anyone know?

I think it is a fixed amount...I imagine (but am not sure) that yes 1 LEA would have to pay another LEA, but BTW they are no longer LEAs but somehting else (to umberella all children's services)

Anyone know the full details? This is really bugging me!

I wish I knew the answer to this too. I have often wondered whether it is the case that some councils spend more on education than others and if so then is that reflected in the council tax? Is it possible that some people live in an area with lower council tax because of the council's priorities but are able to benefit from sending kids to school in an area with more investment in schools but without stumping up the extra council tax? Just wondering.

I don't know, but suspect (as the bureaucracy of one LEA paying another for all children educated in other LEAs would be quite burdensome, particularly in London) that the LEAs just fund children educated in their schools wherever they actually live, except if one LEA is taking on another's obligation to educate a child that lives in the area (as might happen over special needs or exclusion - those are the only instances of inter-LEA payments I found when I googled on this). But I could well be wrong, and I too would be interested in a definitive answer.

Yes. DS1's mainstream school was in a different LEA. His LEA was responsible for the cost of his statement etc etc.

cat64, what if a parent in your area applied to a school outside the area for reasons not to do with SN? I'm in that situation myself, and have never had to concern myself with any differences between the funding of secondary education in my own borough and that of DS1's school. I've never heard of anyone being refused a place at a state school in another borough purely because their home LEA wouldn't stump up any cost difference over capitation, or being asked to meet any such costs themselves.

I've never heard of anyone being told their local education authority wouldn't allow them to go to a grammar school (or a specialist school, academy, or one in another borough that happens to be closer to where they live, etc) over their borders, or insist on payment from the parents, because they weren't prepared to hand over the dosh to the other borough. If anyone has been in that position, please correct me.

not sure blu

our dd's go to neighbouring borough, we're just one street into hackney and they go to church school in islington

aaagh, well i was hoping to keep the church school aspect of this as a hidden agenda! My curiosity started because a friend was offered no place at all at a school within the locality. However she does live v close to a faith school (voluntary controlled or whatever means 'paid for by the council')...which did have places...but were prioritised to children of faith even though they came from another borough....friend was beside herself and asked if i knew whether our borough was paying for kids from outside the borough, etc etc. And it has bugged me ever since. Not just the faith school aspect (which is relevant because they prioritise other factors over proximity), but whether a borough could pull a fast one and get children educated elsewhere! That seems unlikely, though, doesn't it?

And close to borough borders there must be many cross-border educating. No wonder schools make home visits etc to check that children really live at an address, though - they will be losing out if children come from further away but pretend to live locally.

I was wondering about this too. I live nearer to schools in another borough than I do to the schools in mine so I was wondering if could send my dd to the nearest school.

Also, the faith school in my borough definitely lets in children from outside the borough and rejects children (on faith grounds) from within the borough so there must be some cross-bordering going on.

i'm applying for a primary place for ds in the neighbouring borough. the neighbouring borough spend £300 per child per year more than the borough where i live. if ds gets the place the lea where we live will have to stump up the money for him and pay it to the neighbouring lea.

does that make sense?

beautifuldays, are you sure the money actually changes hands in that case? Are you able to quote chapter and verse on that? (I don't disbelieve you, but I would like to see the official version).

Blu, I think (but can't cite authorities - sorry!) that the LEA in which you live has a statutory duty to find your child a place, but can be inordinately slow over the process (you may remember a case in the local papers a while back about a secondary school age child who had not been found a school for two years after he'd left his previous school following a change of custodial parent) and the place could be in another borough (with transport costs paid if applicable). It's not necessarily "pulling a fast one" to find a child a place in another borough if the local authority has already filled all the places in its own schools, though one could argue they should have foreseen the situation and done something about it.

I suppose there must be a lot of reciprocal too-ing and fro-ing across borough borders - 'you've got 100 of ours, we've got 100 of yours, call it quits, or compensate for the net difference'. Otherwise i wouldn't out it past our borough, Hallgerda, to quietly allow many children to be educated 'out' and let another borough pick up the bill!!! (though the schools building programme gives that the lie!)

It's an interesting point Blu (especially relating to church schools). I don't have strong views on church schools either way (though my dcs go to one). But a secondary school near us has some "odd" ways of allocating places - with the result that lots of children are bussed in from far away.... they have changed it a bit now, but at one stage even children from primary schools (of the same faith) within our borough didn't have any places allocated to them although schools from outside the area did have a number of places allocated each year.... must have been some historic reason I suppose but seemed unfair....

Being fair to our local authority, there is an increase in population density at the moment and a bit of a problem finding land to put schools on. If they hadn't closed schools and sold off land around ten years ago they wouldn't be in this fix now, but the current council has to deal with the current situation. What do you make of the plan to build a secondary school on the "spare" land around School F? I have mixed feelings as many schools in the area are really lacking in green space as it is, but perhaps other options weren't viable.

yes I believe LEAs have to pay, and not all LEAs charge the same.

(Hallgerda - I have concerns about the locality becoming 'schools central' given the number there will be (the new F, D, the new EG, S-m-i-t-f) all in a very small area. Buses will be bursting at the seems.

BUT the alternative they are suggesting is increase the size of all other schools - which i think is a very bad option. Too many yp being raised with no sense of community or adults knowing who they are, to risk increasing anonimity)