Agenda item

To update the Schools Forum on the current cost pressures being faced in respect of High Needs Pupils and the actions being taken to manage those pressures and any future cost increases.

The Forum received a report which updated it on cost pressures being experienced on supporting High Needs Pupils and the actions being taken to manage those pressures and any future costs increases. 

The report included separate information on progress and key issues occurring in Quarters 1 and 2 and the forum noted that as a result of management actions, £0.499m of savings were on course to be achieved, £0.031m above the amount included in the 2015-16 base budget. The work being undertaken on the cost of supporting High Needs Pupils was a key action for the Department and would continue to be reported on a quarterly basis to the Director and Departmental Management Team through the Post-16 SEN Budget Monitoring Board.

As well as providing an update on key matters, Mandy Wilton advised the Forum that the next steps and recommendations for the SEN Team included:

• Develop primary ASD resource
• Develop Binfield learning village SEN resource
• Explore feasibility of a Primary Nurture Group Plus
• Consider implementing school based cluster arrangements
• Consider arrangements to make available a short term intervention fund from the DSG for mainstream schools to utilise rather than request statutory assessments 
• Investment in SEN support services to increase mainstream school capacity to meet needs
• Consider increasing capacity of Education Psychology Service in order to provide more support and consultation for SEN in mainstream schools
• Continue to support the development of an PMLD specialist resource for post 19 learners at Bracknell and Wokingham College.
• Benchmark SEN cost
• Work on moving SEN students into employment or apprenticeships where appropriate

In response to questions, officers advised that:

• The SEN unit at Binfield Learning Village  would be part of the new Academy school and that in respect of High Needs Pupils, Community and Academy schools are funded in exactly the same way and also equally receive access to all centrally managed High Needs Budgets, subject to meeting qualifying criteria / thresholds.

• School based cluster arrangements would involve allocating an amount of funding for High Needs Pupils to a group of schools to manage independently amongst themselves, rather than through the SEN Panel. This approach had worked  successfully in other local authorities.

• it was believed that the Terms of Reference for the SEN Panel had been reviewed and re-issued for 2015-16. This would be confirmed and members informed of where they had been published and where they could be located.

• That the services under review which were funded from the High Needs Block included all centrally managed budgets, but that this work had not progressed in detail yet.

• The admission criteria for prospective pupils for Rise@GHC was considered by the cross-professional admissions panel that looks at each submission made by parents to determine if the request for a place met the needs of the pupil’s statement.  Mandy Wilton agreed to inform the Forum if and where the admissions criteria had been published and establish whether any overlap could occur with Kennel Lane Special School which was currently a cheaper option, although this would not be the case when Rise@GHC achieves a higher occupancy rate.

The Forum noted the actions being taken to address the current and future cost pressures and the successful progress to date that indicated a year end under spend on the High Needs budget of £0.124m.