Background
From 1st April, 2013 the government instituted a revision to school funding arrangements with the key aims of:
· increasing consistency, transparency and simplicity of funding of schools
· increasing the amount of pupil-led funding identifiable within school budgets, and thereby enabling the possibility of ‘funding following the child’ when children move between settings
This national guidance describes three elements of funding that are available to mainstream schools in respect of pupils with additional needs, namely:
Element 1 (Core Educational Funding): this is the amount available for each child who has a place at the school.
Element 2 (Additional Support Funding): this is the notional amount which a school would be expected to allocate to any named pupil with additional needs, to a maximum of £6,000. The funding to support Element 2 provision isn’t separately identifiable within each school’s overall budget, but a school would need to be able to show how £6,000 of additional provision was targeted on a pupil with additional needs if it were to demonstrate the need for further ‘Top up’ funding (Element 3).
In Nottinghamshire, the Additional Family Needs (AFN) and High Level Needs (HLN) funding processes were in operation prior to the government’s revisions, and these arrangements are in line with what the government is aiming to implement at a national level. Element 3 can be thought of as incorporating six levels of funding which is in addition to the £6,000 of targeted funding put in place by the school:
1) AFN (low)
2) AFN (medium)
3) AFN (high)
4) HLN (1)
5) HLN (2)
6) HLN (3)
Additional Family Needs
The Local Authority (LA) currently devolves £6.7m to Families of Schools (FoS) to enable them to make allocations of additional funding to schools in respect of pupils where the £6,000 of targeted provision is proving inadequate in meeting the child’s needs. The total AFN budget is allocated to Families of Schools using a formula which is made up of:
· a block of funding for each FoS, equating to £36,500, which represents 24% of the AFN budget
· funding calculated on the numbers of pupils on roll within the FoS, equating to 60% of the AFN budget
· funding which takes account of Free School Meals (FSM) entitlement equating to 8% of the AFN budget, and
· funding which takes account of prior attainment, equating to 8% of the AFN budget
The LA also currently devolves £1.1m to Families of Schools via the Family Network Fund (FNF), to support the operation of the AFN funding process, as well as to support networking within the FoS around SEND work.
Each FoS meets to consider requests made by each school within the family in respect of pupils with additional needs. In each case the expectation is that the school is able to demonstrate that £6,000 has already been used to fund targeted provision, and that more is needed. The SENCOs in the family meet to moderate these requests, and to determine the level of AFN allocation to be made. Currently, there is no countywide agreement as the monetary value of an AFN (low), AFN (medium) or AFN (high) allocation.
The Family SENCO for each FoS meets on an annual basis with the other family SENCOs within the district to moderate the low/medium/high allocations, and this district moderation takes place prior to the main round of FoS moderations in the Spring term. There is currently no between-district moderation of AFN funding decisions.
Rationale and remit of the AFN funding review
The aim of this AFN funding review is twofold:
1) to review the formula used to drive out the AFN budget to families of schools
2) to review the processes used in the allocation of AFN monies
Outcome: If the formula used to drive out the AFN budget was as fair as it could be, the amount available to each FoS would enable the family to make allocations to individual pupils which would be of a comparable level to pupils with comparable needs across the county.
Whilst we have data on moderation between FoS within each district, we don’t have data on moderation of AFN decisions between districts. There is variability between FoS in the numbers of pupils allocated funding at each of the low/medium/high levels, and there is variability in the monetary value of each of these AFN funding levels.
In conducting this review, and in implementing the recommendations of the review, a balance will need to be struck between the need to determine funding allocations which move towards the desired outcome as stated above, whilst maintaining stability in school placements of children with severe and complex needs. To that end it is proposed that the existing AFN formula is used to determine allocations for a third of the AFN budget (2014-15 financial year), and any revised formula is used to determine allocations for two thirds of the budget. Families of Schools will be told what their 2014-15 AFN budget will be early in the Spring Term 2014 so that they can plan ahead for any changes that arise from the revisions to the formula.
Data gathering
The AFN review will be informed by consideration of data, including comparison data between families of schools:
· the numbers of pupils receiving AFN funding at each of the three levels
· the % of the FoS population that this represents
· the breakdown of AFN allocations by primary plasc category
· the monetary value of each level of AFN funding
The consultation process
Preliminary discussion about this AFN funding review began at the Family SENCO workshop held on 14th June, 2013, and the discussion which took place has shaped the following consultation questions. Family SENCOs will be invited to a follow-up workshop early this autumn term.
The consultation period will last from 1st September 2013 to 31st October 2013. Proposed changes to the AFN funding process and to the AFN formula will be determined by 30th November 2013 with a view to consulting with schools forum.
Family SENCOs will be notified as early in 2014 as possible of their AFN budget allocation for the 2014-15 financial year, and this will include the proportion that has been calculated using the existing formula (notionally for the Summer term 2014), and the proportion calculated using the revised formula. Head Teachers may wish to consult with their Governors prior to making a response.
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Review of the AFN funding process