Funding to support children and young people with SEND

Pre-school and early years settings

A small number of children in pre-school settings may need a little extra help, which is the responsibility of the setting to provide. Herefordshire Council recognise the challenges faced by pre-school and early years settings when meeting the requirements of children with significant or complex needs.

Read more about funding available in early years settings including the Disability Access Fund (DAF) and Early Years Inclusion Funding.

Mainstream schools

Mainstream schools already have some funding (up to £6,000 per pupil) built into their budgets to meet a wide variety of less complex special educational needs.

If individual children and young people need a higher level of funding to meet their needs, Herefordshire Council uses its High Needs Matrix to decide how much additional funding is necessary (sometimes called top-up funding).

For children and young people with an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP), the level of funding is determined as part of the assessment process, so there's no need for schools to apply separately. However, if there's no EHCP in place, the school will need to make an application for funding.

If you feel your child or young person requires additional support and funding to meet their needs, speak to their class teacher or the school SENCO. To find out more about the matrix and funding, you can visit the High Needs Matrix page.

Specialist schools and provision

Specialist schools and other specialist provision will receive £10,000 per school place, at the start of each financial year. Each pupil entering a specialist school or provision will have an EHCP, along with the appropriate level of top-up funding.

Personal education budgets

A personal education budget is an amount of money identified by the council to deliver provision set out in an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) where the parent or young person is involved in arranging that provision. Personal education budgets should reflect the holistic nature of an EHCP and can include funding for special education, health and social care provision agreed in section F of the EHCP.

Who can apply for a personal education budget?

Parents and young people up to the age of 25 years old, who have an EHCP can request a personal education budget. If a child or young person has educational needs but does not have an EHCP then a request for an EHC needs assessment will need to be made before a personal budget can be considered.

Requests can also be made for a personal educational budget at any time during which:

  • The draft EHCP is being prepared or
  • The EHCP is being reviewed or re-assessed

Read our personal education budgets policy.

Special Provision Capital Fund

The Special Provision Capital Fund is a government grant allocated to improve special education settings to ensure children with SEND have good quality educational facilities.