Can someone please explain these school costs to me please...

[threetoone]

I have previously posted about my DD1 and her transition to Secondary School. Briefly, she is year 5 at ms local primary, dx of HFA. We have requested an out of county special secondary from year 7. Our LA have sent of paperwork to the other LA and the information was put before one of their panels last week, so still waiting to hear. Our LA did say they were going to consult with one of their own special schools, which we don't want our DD to attend.

Anyway after posting previously, I made a FOI request to my LA asking how much their special school costs and they replied with ..."is difficult to give a precise cost of a place as it will vary depending on the banding of the individual student. We can tell you that the average banding for a student is £8,700 plus the base cost of £10,000"... So is the cost per academic year £18,700? Does anyone understand what they mean by 'average banding' and 'base cost'?

Thanks

In my area there is a very complicated funding formula with the highest band being for the most profound / complex needs. What they are saying is that a place will cost £10,000 plus the banding which will vary according to the needs of the child - so yes a place would be around £18,700.

Thanks for explaining that Waiting. If you were comparing costs of different schools, is it reasonable to use the "average" that they have quoted?

The problem with these costs are that if you have a rogue authority who don't want the school you want, they will play with these figures and say that there's no case law about how they should be applied when comparing costs.

The figure of £10k for the base cost came in last year, and as far as I am aware, there is currently no case law how this £10k should be applied when comparing comparative costs. My barrister attempted to clarify it during my Tribunal last Summer, but because we "won" on need, not on cost, his very lengthy anaylsis on this was not remarked on at all by the Tribunal. I suspect, that this was fortunate for us, because if we had won on cost, then the LA would probably have challenged his analysis and application of the £10k - precisely because there was (still is?) no case law.

However, there is strong case law that the AWPU for your LA per key stage can be used. And that this should always be the starting point (but not the final point IYSWIM) for working out the cost of a school placement.

There has also been new case law (in the last month or so) that when comparing costs, the LA has to include all the costs of a placement. IPSEA's note is on it here

Case law for comparing costs

Whilst this particular case was based on the extra cost of social care, this new case law also covers items such as "bought-in" SALT provision, OT provision etc.

You can also include the cost of transport - which often works well if you say you will cover the transport cost to your preferred school (so zero cost to the LA). The LA will have to pick up the cost to their school. But they might try to zero cost it if a taxi/bus etc is already going from roughly your home to their school. Although if it's a taxi company, the company will often charge to add another person to an existing contract - in which case you can use that additional cost.

I'm sorry. This doesn't answer your original question. But this new case law might help you in other ways?

Thank you Towie. I saw that case mentioned on a thread on here recently. Its interesting that some costs can just be absorbed and invisible or not relevant and others aren't. I suspect the transport costs will be the sticking point. And I'm waiting to hear back from the other LA what
the cost of our choice of school is. I suspect it is lower so need to factor in transport and see what it comes to. Thanks again, its helpful to gather the information so I'm prepared when the LA get back to us.