Doubts over SEN funding will leave pupils in limbo

The word is that the draft provisions introduced by former children’s minister Sarah Teather on her last day in office will be fundamentally changed. The prospect of new legislation during this parliament therefore seems remote, and the special educational needs and disability pathfinder projects are being extended until September 2014.

Meanwhile, from April, the government is completely changing the basis of meeting the support costs for young people aged up to 25 with high levels of need. The previous Education Funding Agency allocations to colleges are being transferred to local authorities, to be added to existing SEN budgets, so that councils can plan integrated support. Councils have welcomed the move, but – and it is the usual but – there must be enough funding transferred.

The Education Funding Agency has asked councils to work with colleges and schools to assess how many “high needs learners” will need funding in 2013/14, and where they will study. Not surprisingly, there is considerable uncertainty, with the overall assessment showing substantial growth in demand. Inevitably, because of the raising of the participation age from September 2013, feedback from councils shows a significant increase in the number of young people with special needs wanting to continue learning post-16.

Unless there is a fair and equitable mechanism for divvying up limited resources, demand is bound to outstrip funding. And the arbitrary cap on funding levels proposed by the agency will be neither equitable nor fair. These are real, not hypothetical, young people, and they are already known by name to councils that have linked their pre- and post-16 SEN tracking systems.

All this feels like a slow-motion car crash – SEN specialists in local authorities, schools and colleges have been warning about it for many months. A simplistic transfer of funding, at a time when demand is increasing, will leave young people and their parents in limbo. The Education Funding Agency needs to act fast.

John Freeman CBE is a former director of children’s services and is now a freelance consultant  Read his blog