Send Funding

Under the last government local councils were given permission to exclude SEND spending from their accounts until 2026. This has the effect of hiding the amount that councils are indebted. That seems like a plan that has no downsides….

It is possible for schools to get extra funding to meet SEND needs. All they have to do is sign up for the governments “Dedicated schools grants.”  Sounds like a good idea, accept for the fact that schools have to sign up to significant cuts to SEND spending in the future. Think structural adjustment programs on a national level.

Given the state of council funding it’s hardly surprising that 2 in 5 EHCP plans take more than six months to get in place. 

Number of teachers

At least we will have 6500 new teachers? Well maybe, but there still isn’t a timetable for this commitment, but it should be at some point in this parliament. Schools week is reporting that the government is considering watering down the target to include teacher retention. Maybe they ll count every teacher who doesn’t resign…