Calls for fairer funding for education of SEND children in Herts

LEADING councillors are calling on the government to overhaul a national funding formula for the education of children with special educational needs – that allocates less money to pupils in Hertfordshire.

The national formula is used to allocate ‘high needs funding’ to local authorities – that’s then used by schools to give additional support to SEND pupils.

It’s based on factors that include the number of pupils in special schools and the proportion of children on free school meals, in bad health or recording low attainment in an authority.

But it also takes account of a ‘historical spend factor’. And it’s this – based on data from 2017 – that councillors say is counting against Hertfordshire in the funding allocation.

This year (23/24) the funding allocated to Hertfordshire per head was one of the lowest in the country – ranking 148th out of the 150 education authorities.

And whereas nearby Buckinghamshire was allocated £935 per head of relevant population, Hertfordshire received just £614.

The inequality of funding was highlighted at a meeting of the county council’s education, libraries and lifelong learning cabinet panel on Wednesday (November 22).

And at that meeting it emerged that – within days – leading councillors Cllr Caroline Clapper and Cllr Fiona Thomson are to meet with officials from the Department for Education to call for change.

They believe the distribution of funding is excessively influenced by the historical element – and does not reflect the current level of SEND need in the county.

They say that many authorities have been spending significantly more than their allocations in order to need special educational needs.

And they say the county’s allocation of high needs funding us ‘not adequate’ to meet the needs of Hertfordshire children with SEND.

Following the meeting Cllr Clapper told the Local Democracy Reporting Service that funding for Hertfordshire children with SEND was ‘disproportionate’ and ‘inadequate to serve the needs of children in the county’.

“We would like to see a fairer finding formula where a child in Hertfordshire is worth the same as a child anywhere else,” she said.

“Every child with SEND should have the same allocation nationally – it doesn’t seem fair that a child in Hertfordshire receives less.

“Ultimately in an ideal world we would like more funding for every child across the country with SEND. Until that is possible we would like to receive the same as other similar areas.”

The need for change is echoed by Liberal Democrat spokesperson Cllr Mark Watkin, who told the LDRS: “This is a fundamental failure by central government to recognise that Hertfordshire children are just as much in need as any other county’s children.”

Cllr Watkin suggests the funding is based on a ‘historical accident’ rather than a ‘social need or sensible criteria’. And he said it was a ‘disgrace’.

“Hertfordshire should get every bit as much as any other authority,” he said. “For once a standardised approach may be the most equitable system.”