Services for Young Children

Special Educational Needs Inclusion Fund (SEN IF)

Additional financial support for children to attend early years education (EYE) provision

April 2018

Contents Page No.

Background

What are the criteria for providing support?

What is the level of support?

How should the funding be used?

What is an ‘External Agency’?

SEN Guidance for maintained schools, colleges and early years settings

Procedure to claim funding

Timescales for processing and payment...... 7

What happens if a child in receipt of SEN funding moves to another setting?...... 8

Period of Funding and Monitoring

Transition to School

Useful Information

Background

Services for Young Children (SfYC) manage a budget to enable pre-school children with emerging special educational needs to attend a local early years setting. The funding is to support children who attend settings registered to provide Early Years Education (EYE) in Hampshire to take up their free entitlement. The funding is also available to provide up to 5 hours funding for up to 38 weeks each year for children who are 2 years oldin the academic year they are three but not eligible for the 2 year old EYE entitlement

Fundingto support children with SEN ispartly distributed directly through theEarly Years Education grant, which every Hampshire child is entitled tofrom the term after his or herthird birthday,or for eligible children from the term after their second birthday.

It is anticipated that the majority of children’s special educational needs will be supported without the need to apply for SEN Inclusion Funding; as a notional budget to support children with SEN (formally the budget for ‘single’ SEN funding applications) has been included within the Early Years National Funding Formula EYE hourly rate for Hampshire providers. This was as a result of consultation responses and is intended to give providers the flexibility to manage the income from funding without the need to go through an administration process.

EYE providers can also apply to a SEN Inclusion Funding Panel to access SEN Inclusion funding where children have emerging SEN but there is a need to provide considerably higher levels of support to a child during the majority of their time at a provision. SEN Inclusion Funding is intended as a contribution towards providing additional resources and support for the child and is not necessarily expected to cover full costs. Support for children who have an Educational, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) is funded through the EHCP process and not through the SEN Inclusion fund.

Anapplication for SEN Inclusion funding should be discussed with the Area Inclusion Co-ordinator (InCo) for the appropriate geographical area prior to an application being made. The Area Inclusion Co-ordinatorhas autonomy toendorsea request for funding before referring to the Inclusion Team Leader (ITL), and then the SEN Inclusion Fund panel, for support and decision making respectively. Approval must be given by the SEN Inclusion Funding panel before a SEN Funding payment ismade (contact details for the Area Inclusion Teamscan be found on the Services for Young Children website – see page 9).

Any EYE providers who are unfamiliar with the procedure should contact their Area Inclusion Co-ordinator for further advice.

What are the criteria for providing support?

In recognition of the very individual nature of special educational needs and disabilities, and the support which is required to meet these needs, the SEN Inclusion Funding Panel will use a ‘Framework for Decision Making’ to aid the discussion and decision making process (outlined below). This is to ensure that all applications for SEN Inclusion funding are considered with the appropriate levels of rigour, whilst still allowing the SEN Inclusion FundingPanel flexibility to consider the individual nature of children’s and settings’ needs. The InCos and ITLs will be vital in ensuring this process is robust; offering support, guidance and challenge to settings at the earliest opportunity.

SEN Inclusion Fund Framework for Decision Making

The following factors will be taken into account when deciding whether to award the SEN Inclusion Fund:

•The graduated approach has been fully implemented:

oAll resources have been exhausted in relation to supporting the child within the setting and evidence is provided that clearly indicates that the Early Years Special Educational Needs Support Guidance has been applied

oAdvice has been sought and implemented from external agencies, with evidence of the ‘assess, plan, do, review’ approach. Where there are difficulties accessing external agencies this is clearly documented.

•The number of interventions that need intensive support (if the child requires significant interventions throughout the session which are over and above those expected within SEN Support).

•Targeted support is not having an impact:

oThe child is making little or no progress against individual small step goals or the child is regressing.

oThe setting is unable to provide the required support through flexible staff deployment and planning.

•Parents are in agreement with the strategies in place and the plan to meet needs through accessing additional funding. The child’s needs are met in the setting in a similar way as they are at home.

•The risk assessment demonstrates that with all resources available and appropriate measures put in place there remains a high risk of substantial harm to the child and other children (with regards to the child’s safety and ability to progress developmentally).

•The application provides a clear demonstration of how the funding will be used to meet the child’s needs and gives context with regards to the setting; for example size of setting, ages of children within the room, impact on other children.

•The child has Significant Social Communication Difficulties (currently on a waiting list for assessment).

•The child has Severe Learning Difficulties (SLD) or Profound and Multiple Learning Difficulty (PMLD).

•The child has 2 or more distinct and separate areas of needs/issues; for example a pupil with social communication needs and a visual impairment.

•The child has been offered a ‘peripatetic’ SEN Hub place or ‘static’ Hub place but parents have decided not to accept the offer or require additional provision in order to access their entitlement for 30 hours.

•The child has such significant and complex medical needs that they meet the continuing care threshold and multiple agencies are already involved.

•Where there is evidence to demonstrate that a child has such significant needs that they will need support in order to be able to access the setting, funding applications can be considered prior to implementing the graduated approach. However this will be reviewed after a term.

•A one off payment can be considered where training is needed for staff to support a child in a setting; where the training required is beyond that currently being provided by Services for Young Children and partners.

What is the level of support?

It is anticipated that the majority of children’s special educational needs will be supported without the need to apply for SEN Inclusion Funding; as a notional budget to support children with SEN (formally the budget for ‘single’ SEN funding applications) has been included within the Early Years National Funding Formula EYE hourly rate for Hampshire providers. This is as a result of the consultation responses and is intended to give providers with the flexibility to manage the income from funding without the need to go through an administration process.

A maximum of 2 settings can apply to split SEN Inclusion Funding for a child at the same time. The SEN Inclusion Fund Panel will consider splitting funding for more than 2 settings in exceptional circumstances only

Table 1 (below) outlines SEN Inclusion Fund rate for the 2018/19 financial year

Term / Category / Hourly rate
Summer 2018 / Settings within Hampshire who were in receipt of ‘double’ SEN funding during Spring term 2018 / EYE hourly rate + £6 + £1 transition funding per hour*
Summer 2018 / Settings within Hampshire who were in receipt of ‘enhanced’ SEN funding during Spring term 2018 / EYE hourly rate + £6 per hour*
Summer 2018 / New** SEN Inclusion Fund applications from settings which are within Hampshire which are received in the Summer term 2018 / EYE hourly rate + £6 per hour*
Summer 2018 / Settings in Hampshire who were in receipt of ‘single’ SEN funding during the Spring term 2018 / EYE hourly rate + £1.65 transition funding per hour*
Summer 2018 / Settings in Hampshire who had non-funded 2 year olds in receipt of funding for Spring term 2018 and all new non-funded 2 year old applications for Hampshire settings / EYE hourly rate + £6 per hour for all non-funded EYE
Summer 2018 / Settings that are located outside of Hampshire / There will be no funding available from Hampshire for settings which are located outside of Hampshire
Autumn 2018 / All approved SEN Inclusion Fund applications within Hampshire (including existing agreements) / EYE hourly rate + £6 per hour*
Spring 2019 / All approved SEN Inclusion Fund applications within Hampshire (including existing agreements) / EYE hourly rate + £6 per hour*
*Per hour means for every hour that the child is claiming their free EYE entitlement
** Setting who were in receipt of single funding during the spring term and who will have £1.65 per hour transition funding cannot make a new application the SEN Inclusion Fund during the summer term

Information about the actual number of hours per week to be funded is collected at the same time as the information needed for claiming Early Years Education funding.

Where a SENInclusion fund application is successful funding will be awarded for 6months. The need for funding will be reviewed before the end of the 6 month period and a new application for funding should be submitted to the SEN Funding Panel if the provider feels further funding is required.

The SEN Inclusion Fund is only available to providers who are registered withHampshire County Council to provide EYE places and whose premises are located within Hampshire.

How should the funding be used?

It is often assumed that the funding should be used to provide additional staffing to support a child for the whole time a child is attending a provision.In fact a more flexible approach is often more appropriate.For example, some funding may be needed to provide differentiated resources or SEN equipment for the child or to ensure that the child is able to work with one or more other children in small groups. Generally the resources should be used flexibly to ensure that the child’s needs are met.

The Area Inclusion Co-ordinator, along with other external agencies, will be able to offer advice on using the funding and have responsibility for monitoring how the funding is used.Where appropriate, the Area Inclusion Co-ordinator can advise the EYE provider about seeking specialist outreach support from a special school, early years centre or the Portage home visiting service.

The Area Inclusion Co-ordinatorwill monitor how the funding is being used and the continued need for funding (see the section ‘Period of Funding and Monitoring’ below).

What is an ‘External Agency’?

External agenciesareprofessionals which have specialist roles with regard to supporting children with SEND and who are likely to have knowledge of a child’s individual needs and the setting’s ability to support the child’s individual needs. They include Area Inclusion Co-ordinators, Specialist Teacher Advisors, Portage Home Visitors, Speech and Language, Physio and Occupational Therapists, Paediatricians Educational Psychologists etc. The information and professional judgements that they provide are vital when making decisions about the allocation of SEN Inclusion Funding.

For practical administration purposes, Services for Young Children’s Area Inclusion Co-ordinators will assume the co-ordinating role for any applications and as such any applications will need to be sent to the Area Inclusion Co-ordinator for endorsement and to take forward through the process. The Area Inclusion Co-ordinator is the only officer who can ‘endorse’ an application. The Area Inclusion Co-ordinatorwill seek any additional information required, or clarify any information that has already been provided, prior to the application reaching the Inclusion Team Leader for support and the SEN Inclusion Funding Panel for decision making. It is anticipated that the written evidence that accompanies an application will be sufficient for an Area Inclusion Co-ordinator to endorse an application in the majority of cases, so the Area Inclusion Co-ordinator can quickly trigger the internal administrative procedure necessary to ensure timely decision making and payments.

Special Educational Needs Support Guidance for Early Years Providers, Maintained Schools and Colleges

This guidance outlines to providers the range of interventions that should be implemented prior to the provider making an application for SEN Inclusion Funding.

Notional funding to support children with SEN (formally the budget for ‘single’ SEN funding applications) has been included within the Early Years National Funding Formula EYE hourly rate for Hampshire providers for this purpose. This was as a result of consultation responses and is intended to give providers with the flexibility to manage the income from funding without the need to go through an administration process.

No SEN Inclusion Fund applications will be considered without clear evidence that all resources have been exhausted in relation to supporting the child within the setting and evidence is provided that clearly indicates that the Early Years Special Educational Needs Support Guidance for Early Years Providers, Maintained Schools and Colleges has been applied

Procedure to claim funding

The child should first have been discussed with the Area Inclusion Co-ordinator.Requests for SEN Inclusion Funding must be endorsedby the Area Inclusion Co-ordinator; who must have knowledge of the child and take into account the support and advice of any external agencies. The Area InCo must confirm that the provider can offer a suitably structured and supportive learning environment and social experience for the child.Requests for SEN Inclusion Funding must be made on the appropriate form.

  1. The EYE provider should complete the application form. The child’s current Targeted/Personal Plan must be attached. If the child is being referred for behavioural support, a behaviour log must also be attached.
  2. The EYE provider should obtain the parent/carer’s consent and ensure the form includes the parent/carer signature.
  3. The form should then be given or sent to the relevant Area Inclusion Co-ordinator with any relevant reports attached. Due to the nature of the information on the form, wherever possible the form and evidence should be scanned and sent from a secure business email address to the Services for Young Children local office email address (see the link on page 9 below). If sending by post please use an appropriate secure form of postage to ensure data protection (envelopes clearly marked ‘SEN Inclusion Funding’).
  4. The Area Inclusion Co-ordinator will consider the application against the Framework for Decision Making on pages 3 and 4 andwhere appropriate, complete an Endorsement Form.
  5. If the Area Inclusion Co-ordinator agrees to endorse the application, the endorsement form will be forwarded to the Inclusion Team Leader (ITL) for support.
  6. The Inclusion Team Leader will consider the application and supporting evidence. Where the Inclusion Team Leader supports the Endorsement Form they will submit the application to the Senior Administration Officer (SAO) supporting the SEN Funding Moderation Panel, which meets at least twice each funding period.
  7. Where the Area Inclusion Co-ordinator or Inclusion Team Leader does not feel able to endorse the application for the SEN Inclusion Fund, the Area Inclusion Co-ordinator or Inclusion Team Leader will inform the pre-school setting of this, giving reasons. Where further information and reports are needed to make a judgement this should be taken up directly with the setting supervisor or Special Educational Needs Coordinator (SENCo).
  8. If the SEN Inclusion Fund application is approved by the SEN Inclusion Funding Panel the funding will commence on the Monday of the week following the date of the panel meeting. Funding will be approved for a period of 6 months and the review date will be confirmed by the SEN Inclusion Funding Panel.
  9. The Senior Administrative Officer supporting the SEN Inclusion Funding Panel will send a confirmation letter to the provider advising whether the funding application has been approved or declined and the agreed review date.
  10. The Senior Administrative Officer supporting the SEN Inclusion Funding Panel will arrange for payment of the funding to be made, based on the hours claimed by the provider in their EYE Headcount claim.
  11. Where funding is not approved, the provider must take responsibility for explaining the outcome of the application and the reasons for the outcome to the parent and discuss how the child’s needs can be met without additional funding.
  12. The use of any SEN Inclusion funding is subject to regular monitoring by the Area Inclusion Co-ordinator.

Timescales for processing and payment