SEN mainstream support

Overview

Mainstream schools in Leicester currently receive additional funding for pupils with specific special educational needs (SEN).

The additional funding is paid in two parts:

• a set amount for each pupil, depending on the individual pupil's needs
• a school based payment to support the school’s overall SEN budget.

The payments are known as either ‘mainstream top-up’ or ‘element 3 payments’.

Because of how funding is currently allocated, certain schools receive more funding than others even though they may have the same number of pupils with matching SEN needs.

For example:

• School A with 359 pupils receives £341,473 of funding (£92,108 banded funding and £249,365 notional top)
• School B with 400 pupils receives £119,035 of funding (£119,035 banded funding and no notional top up)

This suggests that the school-based support payment does not always distribute funding fairly to schools that need it.

Why your views matter

We are seeking the views of parents, mainstream school representatives and forums on how SEN support funding is currently allocated and distributed. This will help us draw up proposals on potential changes to SEND funding procedures, which we will formally consult on later this year.

Please note that this review is not designed to reduce funding, but to determine how we can spend available funding more effectively to meet the needs of children and young people with SEN.