Asako Brown, Finance Manager, introduced a report that provided an update on the latest Department for Education (DfE) guidance on the operation of the notional SEN budget within local school funding formulae, and sought the views of Schools Forum on the local authority’s approach for calculating the Notional SEN Budget. The report noted that it was a requirement to identify a Notional SEN budget for maintained schools and academies as set out in regulation 11(3) of the School and Early Years Finance (England) Regulations 2023. Additional guidance was published in July 2023 by the DfE in ‘The Notional SEN Budget for Mainstream Schools: Operational Guide 2024 to 2025’.

It noted that the notional SEN budget was not a budget that was separate from a school’s overall budget. It was an identified amount within a maintained school’s delegated budget share or an academy’s general annual grant. It was intended as a guide for a school’s spending decisions and was neither a target nor a constraint on a school’s duty to use its ‘best endeavours’ to secure special provision for its pupils with SEN. The notional SEN budget was not intended to provide the high needs cost threshold set by the regulations (currently £6,000 per pupil per annum) for every pupil with SEN, as most such pupils’ support would cost less than that. Nor was the notional SEN budget intended to provide a specific amount per pupil for those with lower additional support costs, although the local authority may make reasonable assumptions about what those costs might be for the purpose.

Resolved (9:0) – That:

1.  The report be noted.

2.  Schools Forum’s views were sought on the proposal of calculation methodology for the notional SEN budget for 2024-2025 and the consultation for the future years.