sen funding

[finleysmaid]

just a little survey really ....is anyone getting any sen funding for their little ones? Are any of them getting statements before they go to school? and what support are you getting from your LEA's?

[Scarlettangel]

We get an amount that ranges from an extra 14p per hour (!!!!!) to an extra £2.77 per hour for a child who basically will need one to one cover.

 

Can't recall the criteria off the top of my head though.

 

Not had anyone statemented before school though 2 recently were statemented shortly afterwards.

[Mouseketeer]

We get inclusion funding (1 > 1 if that's what you mean ) @ £8 per hour, but we don't get anything extra for the children we add as action/action plus on our funding claim form ( if that's what you mean) . No statements in at moment.

 

Scarlettangel..what is the 14p-£2.77 extra too ? And who/how is it decided ?

[finleysmaid]

If you can tell me what the criteria is for getting funding that would be helpful.

 

We get inclusion funding (1 > 1 if that's what you mean ) @ £8 per hour, but we don't get anything extra for the children we add as action/action plus on our funding claim form ( if that's what you mean) . No statements in at moment.

Scarlettangel..what is the 14p-£2.77 extra too ? And who/how is it decided ?

Yes 1-1 is what im talking about. If you dont get anything for action plus then what is your £8 based on?

[Mouseketeer]

The inclusion funding only comes if a request for inclusion funding is agreed, ( and that's on top of normal funding rate) but to be honest you know it will be before requesting it as the child wouldn't be able to be in the setting without 1>1, but if children are included as action plus maybe due to having a SALT or OT we don't get anything extra above normal hourly rate funding.

[SueJ]

We get zilch unless we present a case for a child which goes now to an SEN panel for a decision. Have just managed to get 2 children some help - they need soooooo much more but we are "to be grateful" that we get 3 hrs / child (they attend 15!) per week. We then get £7.50 to help us fund the additional support worker, the paperwork, the holiday pay accruing for the additional support worker, the time spent writing up logs, IEPs etc. etc. etc. So whilst £7.50 initially sounds quite good it doesn't go v. far!

[finleysmaid]

as the child wouldn't be able to be in the setting without 1>1, but if children are included as action plus maybe due to having a SALT or OT we don't get anything extra above normal hourly rate funding.

So what sort of things are we talking about....ASD/physical/sensory loss/medical need?

I am really interested if anyone has any children who have a serious medical condition that get extrs funding too???? Where did you get the funding from?

[Mouseketeer]

We have had inclusion funding in the past for ASD and physical need,

 

The ones that we could do with additional funding for and that often need support on 1>1 basis are the children with behavioural problems, but they don't even look at funding for those children ....who actually are quite a drain on human resources.

[SueJ]

Sent one off to school in July this year. Massive amount of specialist involvement for global dev. delay. We got 9 hours support per week for an additional 1:1 worker although the child attended 15 hours and needed support for the lot. Did the whole shebang including a statement and "backyearing" into reception. At the transition statement review we managed to get 33.5 hours / week support for the child to have in school e.g., 100% - either we are just too damned good at our job and don't need to have as much funding for additional support ( <_< <_< ) provided in our setting or the playing field isn't level (far more likely). All additional support is funded via early years SEN department of our LA who in fairness fight tooth and nail for us although we do have to put forward a damned good case which involves considerable paperwork, time and effort - all unpaid and unfunded.

[finleysmaid]

Sent one off to school in July this year. Massive amount of specialist involvement for global dev. delay. We got 9 hours support per week for an additional 1:1 worker although the child attended 15 hours and needed support for the lot. Did the whole shebang including a statement and "backyearing" into reception. At the transition statement review we managed to get 33.5 hours / week support for the child to have in school e.g., 100% - either we are just too damned good at our job and don't need to have as much funding for additional support ( <_< <_< ) provided in our setting or the playing field isn't level (far more likely). All additional support is funded via early years SEN department of our LA who in fairness fight tooth and nail for us although we do have to put forward a damned good case which involves considerable paperwork, time and effort - all unpaid and unfunded.

Yes i'm afraid this is what is happening here too!

There have been quite a few views on this thread but not many responses....i'm wondering how many sen children are being catered for in our settings?

I currently have a much higher than average percentage and we support them heavily but we are finding the strain is beginning to take its toll. (and i dont mean the children!!!!) I have one chap who had a diagnosis at birth who gets 9 hours, he is the only child i have currently who has extra money attached to his place. I do feel that we are not being treated fairly at the moment. Our local special school is now full so we appear to be getting more referrals but no money to go with them. I don't feel i am able to say no but the team really can't cope with any more. The problem of course is also that many of these children are not yet 'diagnosed' (yet everyone working with them knows what they are having difficulties with). We do all the paperwork/tac meetings/parent partnership/meetings/liason with agencies/iep's etc and get paid for nothing.....feeling this system is very unfair currently.

(sorry if this sounds familiar i have posted about this last year ...just trying to assess what others are up to so i can build a case for funding)

Thank for your responses so far...very helpful

[Joanne123]

We have just been given 6 hours support a week, for a little one who needs one to one support to enable him to use all areas of the nursery safely due to his additional needs. He does only attend 6 hours a week at the moment, hopefully as his sessions increase the funding will also increase!!!!!!!

Joanne

[playgroup1]

We have two statemented children at Playgroup who have delayed school entry until next Sept and are staying with us till then. One has developmental delay with Down Syndrome and complex medical needs. He has units of funding which allow for one to one. The other child has Down Syndrome and has less units but we support with one to one most of the time.

We are fortunate it seems but it should be acknowledged how much extra work is involved with these children outside of working with them for 15 hours: Meetings, visits from SLT, ED Psych, phone calls, emails. reports, buying and producing additional resources. All these things have a 'cost' to us as a setting.

But we are very proud of these children and the progress they make and what they bring to our setting and the other children in it.

We wouldn't be without them.

[tinkerbell1403]

Isn't it madness how much it differs from area to area. We have a child who has been attending with us since September with complex additional needs. However, we have been informed by LA that there is no funding available for a targeted support worker (1-2-1) because he is under 3! I find this utter madness and their only solution was to tell us to apply for the 2 year free early education entitlement. We have successfully secure this funding but this only covers the session fees and we are unable to offer the parent her full 15 hours as we can't afford a worker to support the child for all of those hours! The parent has been trying to fight her corner but is being faced with the same replies as us. It's so frustrating as like many other settings, we want to put the best interests of the child first but money has to play a part too. I don't know what to do for the best

[twinthinguk]

We have had inclusion funding in the past for ASD and physical need,

 

The ones that we could do with additional funding for and that often need support on 1>1 basis are the children with behavioural problems, but they don't even look at funding for those children ....who actually are quite a drain on human resources.

i have one with behavioural problems but because there is no issue with development we cannot get any additonal support! i keep trying to point out that his development is not progressing as it should but because he is deemed in the appropriate age band we are stuck trying to manage with very challenging behaviours....gp does not want to know, hv been in and seen him in full flow! and we are currently trying to apply for inclusion funding but have been told it will be a small amount towards one to one for the hour we have our lunch!

[Guest Spiral]

I've been told we will be able to get a small amount of 1:1 funding if we can ensure eyes action plus form has been done and reviewed at least twice....therefore if the child starts in Sept it is unlikely we will get anything done before xmas.

 

Statements....hmmm, well I'm not sure how long they take now, I hope we will get a child statemented (I hate that word) before July!

 

I'm sure the results will be seen further in primary and secondary schools ...money/govt again!!!

[Guest]

When I responded to the new SEN Code of Practice Consultation in December I said this was a huge area for development as the current system is completely inadequate. Each Local Authority has their own system, some seem to provide funding for early years children through a Statement, others don't. Some have inclusion funding and others don't. If there was inclusion funding, it seems to have been reduced so settings are only given a tiny amount - it's a disaster and early years staff are left to pick up the pieces which is VERY difficult.

I'd recommend you contact your Local Authority or go online to find their criteria for Statutory Assessment for Pre-School children then you can see if the child/children attending your setting meet it. Often, you'll need a formal assessment from a Speech and Language Therapist or Educational Psychologist which gives you a standardised score and this can be an issue if parents aren't ready to give permission to refer to another professional or if the child is on a never-ending waiting list.

If you believe the child meets the criteria and you have evidence in terms of observations, assessments and IEPs then ask parents to apply to the Local Authority for a Statutory Assessment. If parents apply, the Local Authority has a legal duty to reply within 6 weeks to let parents know if they will or won't start a Statutory Assessment. If the Local Authority refuses, IPSEA www.ipsea.org.uk is a good organisation for them to contact or if the child has a diagnosis, refer to a charity supporting children with this diagnosis.

I've just had a quick look at the SEN Code of Practice which says this:

The kinds of advice and support available to early education settings will vary according to local policies. LEAs have the power, under section 318(3) of the Education Act 1996 to supply goods and services to assist early education settings outside the maintained sector in supporting children eligible for Government funding who have special educational needs but do not have a statement. (Page 39, SEN Code of Practice 2001)

LEAs should note that parents of children under five and over two may express a preference for a maintained school to be named in their child’s statement........ The parents may also make representations in favour of an independent, private or voluntary early education setting for their child. If the LEA considers such provision appropriate, it is entitled to specify this in the statement and if it does, must fund the provision. (Page 40, SEN Code of Practice 2001)

Of course, from September 2014, this will all change when the new Code of Practice comes in! If parents don't have any success, in my experience, the Local MP can sometimes be helpful and the threat of a tribunal often works wonders. It just makes me furious that parents have to fight for what they're entitled to.