1. WELCOME TO THE NATSPEC ANNUAL CONFERENCE 2015

2. High Needs Funding Update
Peter Mucklow Director for Young People Education Funding Agency

3. Where are we now?

4. Market entry / market exit
Academic year
Market entry
Market exit
2014/15
Calthorpe Vocational Trust 
Lindeth College
Uplands Educational Trust
Midstream (West Lancs) Ltd
Groundwork South Tyneside and Newcastle
Inroads (Essex) Ltd
2015/16
Ambitious College
The Media College
Cambian Wing College
Trinity Specialist College
Chatsworth Futures Ltd

5. Section 41
Application process commenced April 2014 and now two application windows have been completed
182 institutions approved as at 31 December
121 independent special schools and 61 SPIs
Spring 2015 applications closed on 17 February and the list will be updated and published at the end of April
36 institutions applied
30 independent special schools and 6 SPIs
Summer 2015 application window opens 8 May 2015
All subsequent applications will be considered as an annual process, commencing in summer term 2016
Application window opens 6 May 2016

6. 2014/15 institution survey
Autumn 2014, survey regarding contracts and payment processes for high needs students
Surveyed every FE college with HNS and all SPIs
Focussed on cases where E3 had not been agreed or interim payments made
Received 383 responses where 202 institutions stated E3 had not been agreed or interim payments made, of which 27 were SPIs
Of the 202, 32 institutions had 30 or more students for whom payments had not been made, 8 of which were SPIs
Followed up all 202 responses where mitigating action was not in place, many of which we were already aware of and working on
In February all institutions confirmed as being satisfied with LA actions

7. 2015/16 exceptions process
Rolled forward 2014/15 place numbers for the basis of 2015/16 allocations
Process to review exceptional cases against published thresholds
Exceptional cases process resulted in:
£8m FY (£11m AY) of funding committed to additional places within institutions (see table on following slide)
£47m distributed as additional funding using population data to local authorities

8. 2015/16 exceptions process Type Number of places Cash value
Academic year
Proportion of places
Pre-16 places in schools and academies
142
£1.4m
10%
Post-16 places in schools and academies
252
£2.4m
17%
Pre and post-16 places in NMSS 59
£590k 4%
Further Education and CCP
875
£5.25m
60%
Special Post-16 Institutions
129 9%
Total
1457
£11.04m
100%

9. 2015/16 allocated places
2013/14
2014/15
2015/16
Allocated post schools places
18,500
22,250
23,300
Allocated in SPIs
2,800
3,200
3,300
Allocated in FE colleges
15,400
19,400
Allocated in CCPs
300
550
600
Place funding costs (E1 and E2)
£203.5 m
£245.3 m
£255.2 m

10. DSG funding
Funding for high needs has increased year on year for the last three years
2013/14
2014/15
2015/16
High needs block total
£4.967 bn
£5.184 bn
£5.245 bn

11. 2015/16 student number allocation
Allocated student volumes (E1) for 2015/16 on:
The basis of the outcome of the high needs exceptional case process for institutions
Only exception to this is where the count of valid students in the 2014/15 R04 uplifted by the previous years ratio, results in a higher volume than that agreed through the high needs exceptions process. In this case we funded on the higher number
In a number of cases where there were data credibility issues we have used the count of valid students based on the 2014/15 R06 return

12. 2015/16 allocations What if I exceed my allocated place numbers?
E1 will be picked up on the lag in the following year’s allocation
Any support costs (E2 and E3) will be provided in year by commissioning local authorities as appropriate
LAs will fund this through the high needs block and we have distributed £47 million using population data to support this

13. 2015/16 funding factors
Reviewed whole year data based on final R14 return for 2013/14 as highlighted in the autumn letter to the sector
For most institutions, impact of moving from national averages to real data would result in a reduction in the funding per student
In these cases we have applied the same national SPI funding factors and uplifts as used in 2014/15 allocations
In cases where an institution’s real data generated a higher rate of funding per student than the national averages, we used that to calculate the 2015/16 allocation.
This approach is for one year only, to provide funding stability for the sector during a continued time of change.

14. Transitional protection
Transitional protection confirmed for a further final year
2013/14
2014/15
2015/16
Number of institutions protected 28 29 27
Number of institutions not protected 32
Number of protected places
256
413
TP Funding
£12.9m
£16.3m
£8.1m
Data for SPIs only
Only those that have been eligible for TP in each year are included in the table 

15. Looking ahead

16. Timings for 2015/16
Published the 2015/16 high needs funding guide on GOV.UK in March
Decision on placement by 31 May 2015;
31 March for 2016 in line with the Act 2014
Contract signed with institution by 30 June 2015;
Student starts by 30 September 2015;
First payment made by 31 October 2015, where a monthly payment has been agreed.

17. Looking forward to 2016/17 Data quality and planning
Planning for 2016/17 allocations is underway in consultation with HEG
To confirm arrangements by July 2015
Can only move towards a lagged funding system if we have accurate data recorded for high needs students
Recorded HNS by SPIs at R06 represented 94% of allocated places, up from 85% at R04
Will continue to monitor and contact SPIs along with other institutions to encourage further improvements by R10

18. Looking forward to 2017/18 Top-up funding and research project
DfE issued wider call for evidence (now closed) to help work out better ways to distribute special educational needs and disability (SEND) funding.
Move towards a more formulaic distribution of top up funding and away from a model which is based on historic allocations
Research project led by the Isos partnership reports back in May