The government has agreed that for the coming year local authorities with academies should continue to fund SEN support services at the current level instead of delegating the money down to academies.
The Special Education Consortium is encouraging professionals and parents to use the official Department for Education letter [download pdf] to make a strong case to their local authority that SEN support services must be protected from the expansion of the academy programme, and that the government confirms that these services are key to early intervention. Read a letter from Julie Jennings, Chair of the Special Education Consortium, 14th February 2011, here. [Download pdf]
The government’s decision relates to all SEN support services, not just those for low-incidence needs or a particular condition. Two of the key benefits are:
- A local authority should not now cut SEN support services on the basis that a number of academies have opened in that area. Where there are academies in a local authority area, that local authority will now retain the money to keep SEN support services viable.
- As local authorities are retaining the money for SEN support services that was previously being delegated to academies, they must now provide these services to children in academies. All disabled children and children with SEN should continue to receive services from the local authority no matter what type of school they attend.
It is also important to note that this will only have an impact in areas where there are academies, but the more academies there are the greater effect it will have.