Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much funding for SEND the Government has allocated to local authorities in (a) 2015, (b) 2016, (c) 2017, (d) 2018, (e) 2019, (f) 2020 and (g) 2021.
The national funding formula (NFF) continues to distribute core schools funding fairly, based on the needs of schools and their pupil cohorts.
The government does not allocate specific amounts for mainstream school pupils with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). Within the total funding allocated, local authorities are required by regulations to provide schools with sufficient funds to enable them to provide additional support costing up to £6,000 for each pupil with SEND. When support costs for an individual pupil exceed £6,000 per year, the local authority provides top-up funding from its high needs budget.
High needs funding is allocated to local authorities for children and young people with more complex SEND. The total high needs funding allocations for all local authorities since the 2015-16 financial year are as follows:
Financial year | Total high needs block funding (£ million) |
2015/16 | 5,247 |
2016/17 | 5,300 |
2017/18 | 5,827 |
2018/19 | 6,115 |
2019/20 | 6,279 |
2020/21 | 7,063 |
2021/22 | 7,906 |
2022/23[1] | 8,981 |
[1] 2022/23 figures are provisional, including supplementary funding