Essex County Council

People Commissioning

SEN Planning & Provision

E2, County Hall

Chelmsford

Essex CM1 1QH

The Headteacher
Insert address / Date:
Enquiries to: / Candice Thompson
Email:
Phone: /
03330 131156

Dear Headteacher,

SEN Top-Up Funding for Essex Pupils

I am writing in relation to the process of claiming Special Educational Needs (SEN) Top-Up funding for Essex Pupils.

There are currently over 300 Essex pupils attending 115 other authority schools who are entitled to SEN Top-Up Funding. Schools have their own processes when claiming SEN Top-Up from Essex County Council (ECC) and this has led to inconsistencies and difficulties when agreeing funding.

Following agreement of our Schools’ Forum, I am writing to inform you of changes to the way in which ECC will fund SEN Top-Up for Essex pupils in other authority schools. These changes are being implemented to ensure a consistent approach is followed and that all funding is allocated in a fair and transparent manner.

Not all schools will be affected by these changes as some schools already follow the process detailed below when claiming SEN Top-Up.

With effect from 1st April 2016, the following process should be followed when claiming SEN Top-Up Funding from ECC:

Special Schools and Enhanced Provisions - ECC will fund the same rate of SEN Top-Up that is funded by your home authority for a pupil with a similar need. We may require you to evidence the rate that is funded by your home authority and this will be found on your schools’ Section 251 Budget Statement or General Annual Grant Statement.

Mainstream Schools – ECC will fund the number of hours at the hourly rate of Top-Up that is funded by your home authority. If you are unable to provide your home authority’s rate, ECC will fund you at the rate ECC pays its own schools (see the attached for our current rates)

Any ‘exceptional funding’ will need to be agreed in writing, clearly stating the number of hours support and cost, by the pupil’s Locality Casework Manager.

Payments will be apportioned on a daily rate, using the number of Essex school days in the financial year (as per the term dates on our website http://www.essex.gov.uk/Education-Schools/Schools/Dates/Pages/Term-Times,-Holidays-and-Exams.aspx). In the 16/17 financial year, there are 201 schools days.

Two claims should be submitted per financial year (April-March), one in May/June time for the summer term and the other in October/November for both the autumn and spring terms.

A claim template has been created (attached in hard copy format) and this will be sent by email to your school. The template should be used when claiming SEN Top-Up from ECC. Once the claim is received and agreed by ECC, settlement will be made within 30 working days, on the thirtieth day the payment will leave the account of ECC. ECC will not be liable for any time taken after that for the payment to clear through the banking system.

If an Essex pupil attending your school should leave after SEN Top-Up Funding has been paid, ECC will seek recovery of any funding paid, pro-rata using the daily rate above. So, for example if funding is paid for a pupil up to 31/08/16 and that pupil leaves on 17/06/16, ECC will reclaim 25/69 of the funding made.

All claims should be submitted to ECC no later than 12 months from the end of the financial year (31st March) in which the provision was delivered. So, for example, claims for summer 2015 need to be submitted by 31st March 2017. Any claims received after this deadline will be reviewed and paid at the discretion of ECC.

With effect from 1st April 2016, no ‘Administration Fee’ will be paid.

I do hope that you find the claim template useful and agree with our approach to make this process consistent, however, should you have any queries, please contact Candice Thompson, SEN Commissioning Officer (contact details are at the top of this letter).

Yours sincerely,