LEA Funding stopping completely from April - what do I do???

[ScoobyDooWhereAreYou]

Bit of background - My DS has a complex medical history which has led to a him having severe speech and language problems and therefore poor reading/writing, he has a marginal airway so tires easily, has poor concentration, confidence issues due to his communication difficulties and his general health is very poor - he has a compromised immune system so can become very unwell very quickly.

He's currently in Yr1 and right from preschool has had LEA funded IPF for 25 hours a week. This has provided 1:1 support for learning plus cover for him at play/lunch time. We were due to have a review in March in which I thought the funding would be reduced, expecting him to lose the play/lunch time cover.

HT took me aside yesterday as she has been informed that the council is removing ALL IPF funding from April for all children. Nothing has been said formally as there is lots of debate about the wording of letter as obviously parents are going to be outraged. But oh my god what am I going to do???

I don't know anything about statements as I've not needed to know, but I know they take forever to get in place. I'm also doubtful that DS would be eligible?? I just don't know. My poor baby, he's 5 and is going to go from 25 hours support to nothing overnight - and LEA haven't even had the decency to inform me!

I'm just so stunned at the moment, I'm trying to read up as much as I can so I know what I'm talking about but looks like there'll be no appeal process if its a council wide decision. Is getting him statemented the only way to get him support? Does anyone have experience in a similar situation?

His medical history is CHD corrected at birth (but left with vocal cord palsy), tracheostomy from birth to 3 years, decanulated but fistula remained open until 5 years, grade 1/2 subglottic stenosis ongoing, marginal airway will need reconstruction at some point, gastrostomy fed until 5 years (button removed recently), nuetropaenic and lymphopaenic.

Thanks for listening xx

'My poor baby, he's 5 and is going to go from 25 hours support to nothing overnight'

I doubt it. The HT is rattling you and setting you up to have low expectations. She is probably also trying to encourage you to apply for a statutory assessment.

The first thing you must do. Right now. Is put the whole conversation with the HT in writing and send it to her for 'clarifcation that this is what she told you the situation will be in APril'. I bet you'll get a letter back telling you you've misunderstood.

This letter will then become part of the evidence for a statement as it shows that the school feel unable to support your child without additional resources.

The law is that children must have their educational needs met. It is the LA's responsbility but they delegate that to schools mostly. Therefore initially, it is the school's responsibility.

If that means selling their sports equipment then so be it.

One thing you absolutely must NOT get into, is a discussion about funding. Funding is not your problem, it is theirs. If they start whinging about the numbers not adding up to do their legal duty by your child then tell them to get an accountant and stop telling you about it.

We had a talk from parent partner ship, the school will get more SEN money and need to fund it out of this. School should not be worrying you about who funds his 121 this is for them to deal with.

Our head approached me about this too but because DS's statement is funded by another county to the one the school was in. The school's county are changing their rules and he wanted to know if DS's money could come straight to the school and not get swallowed by the other county's funding changes.

Are the changes the same across the board? Does anyone have a link?

Yes. There are other posters here who know a lot more about it, but generally what is happening in April is the LA are devolving more money to schools for everything, including SEN. Before, in many LAs the schools would apply and the LA would provide. Now the LA is just increasing all schools budgets.

The trouble is, the money is for SEN, but not ringfenced. So naturally, the teacher would rather set your expectations lower, provide the minimum help she can get away with and use the money for a new vegetable patch. She'll justify it to herself as being that a 1:1 benefits ONE child, wheras a vegetable patch benefits all children in the school, plus attracts a better class of parents for next years intake.

That is WHY you absolutely MUST write that letter. You need written evidence of the amount of support he has had until now, the conversation with the HT, and what she seems to think she won't be doing with the SEN money that is coming in.

Ah, that's interesting IA. I wonder what will happen with the cross-county stuff?

It has to be pretty common.

But you know, I wouldn't be surprised if no-one has thought about it

Hi scoobydoo wouldn't your daughter be on SA+ then? this should already provide 15 hours of funding from the off, but this may have something to do with the sudden changes mentioned by v unprofessional HT;

www.education.gov.uk/publications/eOrderingDownload/school%20funding%20reform%20-%20final%202013-14%20arrangements.pdf

Sorry I can never get the hang of these blooming links you may have to copy and paste, sorry! Its a lot of info but in general the changes will take place in April.
starlight funding was one of the excuses from my sons school I had no idea what they were talking about until I mentioned it to my sons GP who was not impressed and talked me through it .
I would do as starlight suggests always get the school to clarify anything that has been said to you, speaking from experience, its surprising how quickly you have mis-heard or something wasn't said at all , Mention (and read up on a statement) but bare in mind the school should fund any outside agencies to support this so if they don't instantly agree you can apply for one yourself. If I am wrong I'm sure someone a lot more knowledgable will come along to correct me or give you additional info .

It's taken me a while to grasp the issue of funding, because when DD1 was almost 4 (she's 7 now) I had a conversation with an Ed psych about funding and she was quite defensive, saying that funding should not be the concern of parents. I took that as her trying to fob me off, but now, 3 years later, I fully understand her point.

Central Government have the responsibility for providing an education to every child.

Central Government gives each Local Authority the money to educate each child.

The Local Authority has responsibility for funding education. Part of that responsibility is Special Educational Needs.

It's silly for a school to have to ask the LA for each wobble cushion, each pen gripper, each visual timetable. So many children need them! So, they give each school an amount of money which will cater for the 'average' child with SEN.

Some LAs give a smaller amount to the school in advance (called devolved funding) and top-up statements which give over, say, 5 hours 1:1. Other LAs give a much larger amount of devolved funding to the school in advance, so expect the school to pay for, say, the first 15 hours of each statement.

Some LAs retain an amount that can be used by schools for children who don't meet statementing requirements (ie. perhaps are academically and socially fine) but nevertheless need lots of care at school, such as your DS, who has medical needs. This is IPF funding.

From April, the LA will be giving larger amounts to the schools directly, so they will be expected to sort out their own arrangement for such children, instead of asking the LA to sort it. That's all.

So you need to establish that he still needs 25 hours support, and make it about that, not about money.

Is there anything you can do to the wording of a statement to secure direct funding?

My head's spinning, thank you all so much. I don't think HT was being unprofessional, we've been waiting on a date for the March review so she took me aside to say why we haven't had a date and what to expect when it eventually happens so I was somewhat prepared. I know I'm probably being naive here!

DS wasn't on SA+, he was on IPF (individual pupil funding) which is what is stopping. Am I right in thinking that if the school move him onto SA+ from April that he will still get 15 hours support?

HT said that they wouldnt just stop supprting him from 1st April, they would gradually scale down his support throughout the rest of Yr1 and that they would make sure he was always supported in areas he needed but that he wouldn't have a dedicated person like he currently has, that it would be more group based (I'm writing it here while I'm thinking of so I remember it for my letter!!).

Got to pick DS up now to take him for SALT but will read the links later and get my head round it all. Thank you all xx

'DS wasn't on SA+, he was on IPF (individual pupil funding) which is what is stopping. Am I right in thinking that if the school move him onto SA+ from April that he will still get 15 hours support?'

No. Support hours and support provision is not dependent on where you are on any scale. It is dependent on NEEDS. So the SA, SA+ thing is a red herring for that, though potentially a good piece of evidence to trigger a statement.

Many on SA+ will not need any 1:1 at all. Many with a statement will not.

You have to ask yourself this:

What does my child NEED in order to adequately access the curriculum and make progress?

Then you can ask:

What is the route to ensure this NEED is met?

And that, is pretty much all you have to concern yourself with. Funding, politics, scales, departments, internal transfers, policies etc. are not your concern.

Scooby if your child needs 25 hours that will be above delegated funding level so say govt sets sen funding at 20 hours in every LA. until now your school probably got full 25. Now it will have to pay first 20 hours and LA will give school top up funding of 5 hours. Your HT is basically deciding not to use the sen pot she has for your child but to spend it on for eg a general TA. This is wrong. If your child's needs have not changed and he still needs 25 hours of 1:1.I would speak direct to sen officer. Find out the threshold for statement from April eg 12, 15, 20 hours. If your child needs more than what school is expected to provide then apply now for a statement. Then the LA will make the school pay out of delegated funding. Your problem is if school decide he suddenly needs much less and you do not agree. If its under statement limit then you can complain to governors but have no legal ability to enforce eg 15 rather than 5 hours. Governors will prob be sympathetic to HT as they will feel budget not cover your child's needs. But this is because the HT has decided to use the Sen money for low level sen and to maintain current number of TAs across school etc.
I would apply for a statement tbh as that is only way make sure school funds your child properly.
There is now less incentive for schools to apply for statements as they will be committed to funding for eg first 20 hours of every statement
If you want to play hard ball FOI the school for a copy of its budget and how it spent sen money this year and how it intends to spend it next year.
You may want to look for another school as her attitude stinks.
You may also find school budgets on council website eg council meetings on education or school forum. You can FOI council to see which schools will get more money under changes and which less.