High needs place process: alternative provision (AP) free school guidance for 2025 to 2026
Updated 17 December 2024
Applies to England
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Introduction
This guidance is for alternative provision (AP) free schools and sets out the process for agreeing high needs place funding for the 2025 to 2026 academic year with the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA). It explains how you should determine place numbers and the information we will take into consideration. It also explains supporting evidence you may need to provide, including from commissioning local authorities.
What you need to do now
You must complete and return the 2025 to 2026 place template we emailed to you. This includes schools seeking funding for the same number of places as in the 2024 to 2025 academic year. Templates must be returned to highneeds.ESFA@education.gov.uk by Friday, 10 January 2025.
You should complete and submit a template confirming your requested place numbers for the 2025 to 2026 academic year. Where these numbers are different to the starting point, we may require evidence to support your request.
Where you do not submit a template, or do not provide sufficient evidence to support requested place numbers, the starting point in the template may be used as a basis for the 2025 to 2026 allocation.
Place funding principles
You should use the principles set out below when considering the appropriate number of place numbers for the 2025 to 2026 academic year.
AP free schools’ requests should be based on local authorities’ and schools’ recent commissioning activity and strategic planning decisions. Early discussion with local authorities and schools is important when agreeing appropriate 2025 to 2026 allocations. This is because local authorities will bear the cost of a number of those places from the third year an AP free school is open.
Pre-16
AP places are funded at £10,000 per place. Place numbers should reflect the expectation that a place will generally be occupied by a full-time equivalent (FTE) pupil. A place does not need to be filled by the same individual throughout the year - for example, where schools commission short-term placements.
It is important that AP settings are not overfunded where places are not required. The total capacity of a school should not be used as the basis for the total number of funded places. For example, a school with a capacity of 150 should not automatically expect to be funded for 150 places if the highest number of full-time equivalent (FTE) pupils in attendance at any given time is 100. We accept that places may remain unoccupied during some periods to accommodate fluctuations in demand. Place numbers should not necessarily represent the highest occupancy point, where this is not consistent with the average across the year. Further information is available in the section ‘How to determine place numbers at AP’ of the 2024 to 2025 high needs funding operational guide.
The following example shows how you may wish to calculate the number of places to be funded. It shows the average number of pupils (FTE) attending the school across the year as 75, this would be a reasonable number of places to fund.
| Month | Average number of pupils |
|---|---|
| September | 63 |
| October | 64 |
| November | 65 |
| December | 66 |
| January | 68 |
| February | 71 |
| March | 74 |
| April | 76 |
| May | 85 |
| June | 94 |
| July | 100 |
| Total | 826 |
| Average number of pupils/places funded (826/11 months) | 75 |
Some AP settings also have a special educational needs (SEN) unit or resourced provision. Pre-16 SEN places are also funded at £10,000 and will be commissioned by local authorities. The same principles for determining place numbers apply as for AP places.
Post-16
AP is for compulsory school aged pupils only. Sixth forms in AP settings are, therefore, funded in the same way as mainstream school sixth forms and receive per student funding through the post-16 funding formula. High needs places are funded at an additional £6,000 per place for students with special educational needs or disabilities (SEND). To be eligible for high needs place funding, the additional costs required to meet the needs for a student must exceed £6,000 and the school will receive top-up funding from the commissioning local authority. More information is available at Section 14.3 of the 2024 to 2025 high needs funding operational guide.
Starting point
You should use the principles set out above when considering the appropriate number of places for the 2025 to 2026 academic year. As in previous years, we have provided a ‘starting point’ in the template to assist you with this process.
This starting point has been calculated for pre-16 and post-16 places using actual occupancy data and funded place number data. Where requested numbers are higher than the starting point, we are likely to require evidence of planned commissioning to support the requested number of places.
Schools may consider changes in local commissioning arrangements, infrastructure changes or more recent occupancy data when deciding whether or not to submit changes to their place numbers that differ from their starting point. We recognise that in many cases the numbers returned by schools will differ from the starting point.
The starting point is based on:
Pre-16 - the lower of:
- 2023 to 2024 academic year school census data (highest of October 2023, January 2024 and May 2024 pupil numbers)
- 2024 to 2025 funded places
An example of how the pre-16 starting point is calculated is shown in the table below:
| Source | October 2023 school census | January 2024 school census | May 2024 schools census | Highest 2023 to 2024 school census | 2024 to 2025 funded places | Starting point |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AP free school | 20 | 25 | 30 | 30 | 25 | 25 |
Post-16 – the lower of:
- January 2024 census data for year 12 to year 14 students in receipt of top-up
- 2024 to 2025 funded post-16 places
How to complete the template
The template includes 2 worksheets for you to complete, all schools must complete the ‘APFS_Place_Review’ worksheet, otherwise their allocation will be based on the starting point. We also require that you complete the evidence and named ‘Commissioners’ worksheet if requested numbers are higher than the starting point.
APFS place review worksheet
Schools must complete the sections marked on the ‘APFS_Place_Review’ worksheet and include:
- contact details - including contact name, position, contact number and email address
- requested place numbers - the number of places requested for the 2025 to 2026 academic year, including where numbers requested are in line with the starting point
- additional comments/evidence - provide information to support the requested numbers, where they are different to the starting point (for example, due to a move to permanent premises or change in commissioning arrangements). This may also include email evidence from local authorities, where required
Commissioners worksheet
You must complete this where the requested place numbers are higher than:
- the starting point, or
- the 2023 to 2024 academic year census data, where this is higher than the starting point
Please list all local authorities commissioning places, or individual schools commissioning places directly, on the ‘Commissioners’ worksheet. This must also include the number of FTE places commissioned. As explained below, we may also require supporting evidence from local authorities commissioning places, or commissioning panels on their behalf.
Supporting evidence required with the template
Where the total place funding requested is higher than the starting point or 2023 to 2024 census data , we require written evidence from commissioning local authorities, or commissioning panels on their behalf, to support the number of places shown for the local authority in the ‘Commissioners’ worksheet. We also require evidence from individual schools commissioning 10 or more places.
Pre-16 places
We require an email or letter from those local authorities commissioning places, or commissioning panels on their behalf, confirming the total number of places they plan to commission in the 2025 to 2026 academic year. We will consider 2024 to 2025 commissioning information where 2025 to 2026 information is not yet available. The evidence should support the numbers requested and be included in the ‘Commissioners’ worksheet of the template.
Where a school is commissioning more than 10 places, please include an email from the school confirming the number and that these are for FTE pupils.
Post-16 places
You must include an email or letter from each local authority planning to commission post-16 high needs SEN places as part of your request. This must confirm the number of places in 2025 to 2026 and state clearly that it relates to high needs students:
- aged 16 to 18 years, or 19-year-olds completing a secondary education course started before they were 18 years old
- with high levels of SEND, each with additional support costs of over £6,000 for which the school will receive top-up funding from the local authority’s high needs budget in the 2025 to 2026 academic year
If you are unsure whether supporting evidence is required, or the type of information required, please contact highneeds.ESFA@education.gov.uk.
Important dates
The timeline for 2025 to 2026 academic year place numbers at AP free schools is as follows:
10 January 2025
Deadline for you to submit the completed template, including the 2025 to 2026 requested place numbers and supporting evidence (where needed) to highneeds.ESFA@education.gov.uk.
Guidance on how to complete is included in the ‘Notes’ worksheet of the template.
January 2025
We will review returned templates. We will consider the requested 2025 to 2026 place numbers alongside the evidence provided and the data available. We may contact you if the template is not completed correctly or evidence to support the submitted numbers is unclear or insufficient.
February 2025
We will write to you and the trust to which you belong confirming funded 2025 to 2026 high needs place numbers.
March 2025
We will issue the 2025 to 2026 academic year funding allocations.
Further information
For more information about the high needs funding arrangements for alternative provision, see section 13 on Alternative Provision’ in the 2024 to 2025 high needs operational guide.