School SEN allocations 'unfair', study finds

Researchers found that the way funding levels are calculated for the so-called “high-needs” element of the dedicated schools grant (DSG) does not “match very closely with levels of current need”.

The high-needs element of SEN funding is one of three ways schools receive money to support students with special needs.

When the government made changes to the way schools are funded in 2013, a decision was taken to continue allocating the high-needs funding to councils based on historic funding levels.

“There was a strong feeling among the local authorities that took part in our research, and many of the national stakeholders, that the current distribution of the high-needs block funding was not sufficiently transparent, objective or fair,” states the report, put together by Isos Partnership for the Department for Education.

“We judged, therefore, that there was a strong argument in favour of moving from a distribution based on historic levels of spending to a formula-based allocation.”

The report recommends that the DfE considers moving to a formula to allocate the high-needs funding to local authorities.

The formula, it says, should include factors such as deprivation, disability, general health and prior attainment.

The report said this approach would be fairer and easier to understand than the current allocation method, and would better correlate funding with levels of need.