High needs funding arrangements: 2018 to 2019
Information for local authorities and institutions about high needs funding arrangements for 2018 to 2019.
Applies to England
Documents
Details
High needs funding 2018 to 2019 operational guide
This guide describes how the 2018 to 2019 high needs funding system will work for all types of provision. It provides key dates and activity for the delivery of 2018 to 2019 high needs funding. It also sets out the principles against which ESFA will consider changes to hospital education funding.
There are significant changes to the way that allocations of funding for 2018 to 2019 to local authorities are determined because of the introduction of national funding formulae for schools, high needs and central school services. The final national funding formulae for 2018 to 2019 and 2019 to 2020 have been confirmed, alongside the analysis of responses to the national funding formulae consultations and government’s conclusions.
New funding to support children with special educational needs
On 16 December, Education Secretary Damian Hinds announced an additional £250 million of funding for high needs, across the two financial years 2018 to 2019, and 2019 to 2020.
We’ve increased the high needs block of the dedicated schools grant (DSG) by:
- £125 million for 2018 to 2019
- £125 million for 2019 to 2020
We’ve allocated the additional funding on the basis of Office for National Statistics projections for the 2 to 18 year old population in each local authority.
The high needs additional funding data gives details of the additional £250m of high needs funding allocated to local authorities over two years.
High needs import and export adjustments
Local authorities can now access institution level import and export adjustment data used in the high needs national funding formula. This is available via the Information Exchange in the Document Exchange ‘Other Submissions’ folder under the 2017 to 2018 academic year.
High needs place change notification process
Local authorities were invited to submit changes to 2018 to 2019 high needs place numbers in ESFA funded institutions by 17 November 2017. The outcomes from this process are now available in the high needs place change request outcomes 2018 to 2019 workbook. This presents information on all institutions for which local authorities submitted a return to change high needs place numbers. The individual outcomes have been determined in line with the principles set out in high needs place change notification process technical note 2018 to 2019.
Place change outcomes will inform the funded place numbers for academic year 2018 to 2019 in FE colleges, commercial and charitable providers and academies. If an institution is not listed in the workbook then this means that no local authority change request was submitted for that institution and the published 2017 to 2018 place numbers will be used as the basis of the 2018 to 2019 allocation.
A local authority, academy or FE institution may contact ESFA to query the place numbers within the enquiry window, which closes on 2 February 2018. Details on how to submit a query during this period are set out at paragraphs 48 to 52 of the high needs place change notification 2018 to 2019 technical note.
2016 to 2017 high needs student numbers recorded in the ILR and school census
The data file 2016 to 2017 high needs student numbers recorded in the ILR and school census is provided to inform local discussion about commissioning arrangements for 2018 to 2019. It presents the number of high needs students at institutions recorded in the academic year 2016 to 2017 ILR R14 data return (updated from 2016 to 2017 ILR R10), and the number of pupils in special academies recorded in spring 2017 school census. The file also provides the number of high needs place numbers for academic years 2016 to 2017 and 2017 to 2018.
Local authorities can now access institutional level import and export data used in the high needs national funding formula. This is available via the Information Exchange in the Document Exchange ‘Other Submissions’ folder under the 2017 to 2018 academic year.
Further information
We’ve published videos about high needs funding which you might find useful.
Updates to this page
Published 27 September 2017Last updated 17 December 2018 + show all updates
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We've added information about the new funding to support children with special educational needs.
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Updated to include information on the high needs import and export adjustment data.
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Published the high needs place change request outcomes for 2018 to 2019, along with an updated version of the high needs funding 2018 to 2019 operational guide.
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We've updated the 2016 to 2017 high needs student numbers recorded in the ILR and school census attachment.
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We've published the high needs place change notification 2018 to 2019: technical note and the 2016 to 2017 high needs student numbers recorded in the ILR and school census.
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First published.