The High Needs Funding Block (HNFB) is increasing each year.
However, the number of children and young people with Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCPs) is also increasing. The number of children with EHCPs is increasing much faster than the funding.
In addition to this, a change in the law in 2014 resulted in young people with SEND being eligible for support up to the age of 25. So this meant that councils had a new duty to provide support for up to an additional 6 years without additional funding.
We know the average amount spent on each child with an EHCP has remained steady over the last few years.
This means there is a growing funding gap and last year the budget was £7m overspent.
In previous years, there has been enough money in schools budgets to off-set any overspend, but this is no longer the case. This means we need to make changes to how we spend the budget going forward or the overspend will grow every year.