Special Schools and Alternative Provision settings highlight ongoing challenges

Special Schools and Alternative Provision settings highlight ongoing challenges

As we start the journey of the SEND and AP Improvement Plan members of the National Network of Special Schools for School Business Professionals (NNoSS) voice challenges being faced in their settings, and by the sector. 

The SEND and AP Improvement Plan Ambition

The SEND and AP Improvement Plan was published in March following a wide consultation with stakeholders from the sector under the SEND Review, and the subsequent Green Paper.  It provides a vision for a new SEND and alternative provision system, which aims to create a society that celebrates and enables success in a variety of forms with cultures, attitudes and environments to offer every child or young person the support they need.  The mission is for all those working across education, health and care to work with local and central government to fulfill children’s potential, build parent trust and provide financial sustainability. 

Funding and recruitment remain challenges across the specialist sector

NNoSS members recently heard more about the plan from colleagues at the Department for Education at the NNoSS summer network meeting, and in turn were able to offer insight into some of the challenges they face at the moment, which need to be addressed alongside the plan’s ambitions.   

A subsequent survey was conducted and the stats that follow are a representation of 76 special schools and alternative provisions from across England. 

Funding

The government is recognising the money needed for the specialist sector and has committed to invest £2.6 billion between 2022-25 to fund new places and improve existing provision.    Capital spend is much needed, especially in old school buildings that are bursting at the seams.  A significant number of schools are working over capacity and 60% said they could not take any more pupils.  One NNoSS member explained: 

“We have a school capacity of 135 and currently have 239 pupils with over 300 applications for places; it has been suggested that we turn the office space into additional classrooms.  We simply cannot accommodate any more children’.  

For maintained schools, members commented on the small amount of Devolved Formula Capital they receive, which is often not enough for larger projects.  Trusts pointed out that special schools are smaller by nature and therefore do not fulfill the pupil number criteria for CIF bids.  There was also mention of the increasing contributions schools have to make, which is becoming harder as budgets become more and more stretched.  Members pointed out the considerable costs they face to maintaining specialist rooms such as sensory and hydropools. 

Tribunals are also putting considerable strain on buildings meaning schools have to find more classrooms to accommodate children.  One member said:

‘We already have 100 more pupils than our premises capacity allows (using DfE’s own guidance on space requirements). Yet we are being directed to take more by tribunals!’

Alongside the commitment for new schools, it is vitally important to ensure adequate capital funding is given to the specialist sector, recognising the vulnerability and needs of the pupils, with 85% of schools saying they do not receive enough for their needs. 

It was encouraging to see the government award £400 million to high needs funding in the Autumn Statement.  A condition of the grant stated that LAs are obliged to pass on 3.4% on top up funding and on place funding, however this is not always happening.  Only 41% of NNoSS schools have so far received the funding. 24% have received it on top up only and 14% on place funding only.  22% have not received it and have had no notification, as yet, from their LAs regarding this.  It appears that there is still work to be done in respect of schools receiving the funding they deserve. 

Across the special and AP sector there have been calls for place funding to increase from the current £10K; which has not increased in a decade.  It remains a balancing act for LAs and if they were to do this, and it was not funded, then it would mean simply reducing top up funding to compensate.  However, schools rely on place funding to support financial planning and budgets, and to give financial security over coming years.  

Free School Meals

Free school meals across the specialist sector is another area of inconsistency.  There is a link between poverty and SEN and of the 24% of children who receive FSM, 41% of these have an EHCP and 38% SEN Support.  NNoSS members show the average FSM to be 50% across their schools and up to 80% in some cases.   While the cost of free school meals lies within top up funding, this shows a clear disadvantage to those schools who have high levels of FSM.  In some cases the cost of providing meals to disadvantaged students was up to £100K pa, money that another school would use on education.  80% of schools fund meals for FSM students only, with 20% funding meals for all students. The majority of schools receive no additional funding to support this. 

Recruitment and Retention

Recruitment and retention remains a challenge and over 66% of NNoSS schools said that support staff are the hardest positions to fill. The role of classroom support in special schools and AP has vastly changed over the past few years and members feel there needs to be greater recognition of this, and that it should be reflected in better salaries.  

The sector is concerned about unfunded teacher pay awards but unfunded support staff pay awards is an equal, or greater concern, when looking at their budgets.   Members spoke about how their recruitment challenges are impacting on the mental health and wellbeing of other members of staff, who are filling the gaps. Most feel that support staff pay structures in their settings should be reviewed and brought in line with the responsibility of their roles. 

Budgets

Only 14% of surveyed schools said they are not forecasting a deficit budget. 

The DfE talks a lot about there being ‘enough money in the system’ but this is not always in the right place.  Almost a third of schools said that their reserves are currently below their reserve policy and for just over a quarter it is above.  However, three quarters said that their reserves are decreasing year on year.  Reserves are being used to avoid deficits and meet pay increases as well as improving premises.  In some cases schools said that their reserves were increasing due to staffing shortages but pointed out that this was not ‘spare money’.  Schools are concerned that efforts made to balance budgets give a false impression that the sector does not need more funding. This is clearly not sustainable.

EHCPs

Much of the discussion in the SEND and AP Improvement Plan is around EHCPs and ensuring that students are placed in the correct provision for their needs.  It is suggested that some children being signposted to specialist schools would be better off in mainstream settings, providing that the correct support is in place for them.   The immense growth in SEN support in schools (currently 13% compared to 12% in 2018/19) and EHC plans (currently 4% up from 3% in 2018/19) shows how this is putting strain on the system.  But, if the ambition is to reduce EHCPs and have more SEN children educated in mainstream settings it is important that they receive the support and funding to enable this to happen.  The growth in EHCPs is not necessarily a result of mainstream schools failing to meet the need of a pupil, rather it could be the result of those mainstream schools identifying needs and seeking to secure the resources needed to meet that need.   

There is much expertise in the specialist sector that can be shared with mainstream schools, and indeed there is already some good evidence of this happening.  It is important for the sector to work together to realise the ambitions of the plan and likewise for the government to recognise that this comes at a cost. Appropriate funding and resources will allow for innovation to happen to fulfill children’s potential and help them achieve good outcomes. 

The National Network of Special Schools for School Business Professionals is the only network for SBPs working in the special sector in England, with over 300 members. Find out more.