Schools funding

• The local authority provides Element 2 funding for schools it is responsible for. The local Schools Forum agrees the formula that determines the amount of money the school gets and this includes funding for free school meals.
• The Education Funding Agency provides Element 2 funding for academies and free schools.
• Element 2 funding is also part of schools’ delegated budget.
• Government guidance says schools should provide up to the first £6,000 of additional or different support for those children who need it, including those with an Education, Health and Care plan.
• This does not mean that the school will spend £6,000 on every child with SEN. Sometimes schools use funds to help groups of children. Some children will need less help – and some children may need more.
• You can ask your school how it uses its SEN budget to support your child.
• Schools must publish detailed information about how their arrangements for identifying, assessing and making provision for children with SEN.
• The local authority also publishes a Local Offer that explains what type of resources this money might be spent on. 

Funding for ‘Specialist Units‘ is at £10,000 per place.

• Some children have such complex needs that the school may request some additional funding to ‘top-up’ Elements 1 and 2.
• This can be used for children with or without an Education, Health & Care plan.
• The local authority is responsible for managing Element 3 funding (sometimes called the ‘high needs block’).
• This can be used to make specific provision for an individual child or a group of children, where a school or academy can show there is an exceptional level of need.
• Read more about how Element 3 (high needs) funding is allocated (link to Suffolk Learning website)

• Special schools are provided with base funding of £10,000 (elements 1 & 2 combined essentially) for each planned place, dependent on the predicted admissions for the next academic year.
• In maintained schools this will come from the local authority
• Academies receive funding directly from the Education Funding Agency.
• Where a special school evidences that a child has needs beyond the funding provided, they can request top-up funding from the local authority.