Financing - United Kingdom (England)

Local authorities receive their schools’ funding through a Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG), a ring-fenced grant paid by DfE.  It is for each local authority to distribute funding – in consultation with a local Schools Forum – to its schools using its locally agreed formula and it is for schools’ governing bodies to decide how to spend their available resources.  DSG provides most funding for special educational needs provision in schools. 

Local authorities and their Schools Forums decide how much money will be retained centrally within the DSG by the local authority for expenditure on budgets such as independent special school fees, SEN support services and Pupil Referral Units, and how much will be delegated to schools (for example, funding that schools can use to provide additional support to children with special educational needs). It is for governors and head teachers to decide how much of their school’s delegated funding will be spent on SEN services and on Continuing Professional Development.

In some cases, funding for pupils with statements is delegated to mainstream schools; in other cases, local authorities retain these budgets and fund the required provision in schools.

Special schools are funded according to local authority formulae, usually according to the agreed number of places at the school, and also have delegated budgets.

Functions such as the educational psychology service and statutory SEN assessment are within the LA’s core budgets funded by their general Formula Grant and Council Tax.