Proposed SEND funds 'not enough', sector says

Proposals outlined in the new early years national funding formula set out the intention to promote access and inclusion for children with SEND to childcare settings. As well as a dedicated Disability Access Fund of £12.5m for childcare providers, the DfE plans an SEN Inclusion Fund.

However, there is much debate about how far the Disability Access Fund will go towards helping children access specialist support in settings. There is further confusion about how cash-strapped local authorities will find the extra money to supplement the Inclusion Fund.

Representatives of the Levelling the Playing Field Campaign, a group of charities including the Council for Disabled Children and the Family and Childcare Trust, said the overall amount of funding is ‘still not enough to fund high-quality inclusive childcare’.

In a joint response, they said, ‘We are clear that high-quality provision for young children with SEND is dependent on both the quality of the provision in settings and what the local authority provides to supplement and complement this provision.’

Although the proposals seek to address pressures on providers, they do ‘little to address pressures on local authorities’, which has already led to the ‘erosion of early years support’ – for example, the reduction in Area SENCOs and specialist services – they added.

The organisations called for more clarification on how many three- and four-year-olds would be entitled to the Disability Access Fund. They also want the Government to increase the amount of funding in the High Needs Block; £1bn has been allocated to the Early Years Block, but the High Needs Block will not be increased.

The Pre-school Learning Alliance told Nursery World that early years funding for High Needs is controlled by schools forums, yet there is often ‘little or no representation’ on these for early years providers. It warned, ‘If the schools forum model continues to be used to distribute inclusion funding, it will need to be restructured to ensure there is larger representation of early years so such representatives feel able to get a fair hearing and equitable funding.’

DLA CRITERIA

There has been debate over plans to allocate funding to settings based on children in receipt of Disability Living Allowance.

‘The DLA being the criteria is not going to work for lots of children; in fact, for most of the population under five who have SEND, unless they have highly complex needs,’ warns Laura Brodie, head teacher of Allens Croft Children’s Centre. The maintained nursery school in Birmingham has 15 children with complex needs, including wheelchair use, Down’s syndrome and SEN, four are Reception-aged children whose needs are so profound that they have not been placed in mainstream schools.